With that point on question period, and opposition asking the questions and expecting an answer, let's get back to the reason we have question period. That is the opposition's opportunity to really question the government and to hold them accountable. As much as I respect the parliamentary secretaries, I would prefer to have a minister to tell me what they're doing on their file. I would prefer to have the Prime Minister in here, actually answering a question.
I'm going to back to the wisdom of Dr. Seuss. I have another quote, “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” Isn't that the truth? Questions are complicated, and answers are simple. Sometimes we get so carried away with our talking points.
I'll use an example of that. I was speaking to a group recently. God love our office and our team. We have an incredible team. How it usually goes is they build the background to a speech on a topic we choose and the group we're meeting with. Then they flavour it with some of the suggestions I have. Then I go back and rewrite it. Or if it's bang on, then we'll run with it.
Well, there was a speech that was done through my office. Nobody else was involved. We write our own speeches. I looked at it and I asked what we were trying to say. Who's our audience? The reality is that it might have been 10 or 11 pages. Four of those pages were trying to get a point across. I'm saying to them that we could say the very same thing with fewer words. The question is very complicated when the answer is very simple.
I think the answer is very simple with the question that we have before us here.