Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I support the amendment. I found out, personally, here on the committee that when you ask a question as simple as, “How much does it cost to administer the program?”, when a witness goes on for two minutes and doesn't answer the question.... What happens to the MPs around this table is we spend all that time coming up with a good question that the Canadian public deserves an answer for, yet because the witness either doesn't know the answer or doesn't want to provide it, whichever it may be, we lose our ability to ask more questions because of the time they take to ramble.
This amendment is really sufficient. I've sat on a number of committees in my life and I've always found that when the chair interferes with the proceedings too much.... I used to chair the climate and environmental stewardship committee in New Brunswick. I would never get involved. I'd only shut down the debate if it got out of hand, but I would never intervene. I wanted people on the committee to have the back and forth. I wanted the witnesses to have the freedom to answer a question.
This amendment is really sufficient because, I can tell you, the people of Miramichi—Grand Lake want these questions asked. More importantly, they want the answer. If a witness comes in, they should know the answer. Everybody in the Canadian public knows it. If I ask a 30-second question and they take two minutes and don't provide an answer, that takes two more minutes away from me.
Around this table, we're restricted. We're restricted to the time limits upon us, five minutes, six minutes, four minutes, whatever it is. You'd like to ask a number of questions in that time frame. I get it if they can't provide an answer. They should just say, “I don't know the answer,” and then I can ask another question, rather than have them speaking for five minutes and ruining a member of Parliament's opportunity to ask an important question as a follow-up.
This amendment put forward by Mr. Poilievre really keeps the witnesses in check and keeps them accountable, and it allows all the members of the House who are on this committee to ask more questions. The more we can ask, the better.
That's why I support it.