I would like to speak to the same point of order. In my experience with items of this nature, it is possible for officials to offer what they believe to be the minister's position or the government's policy. They could preface it by saying, “I understand the minister's position is”, or “I understand the government's position is”. I don't believe Mr. Cotler was asking for a personal opinion. In the future, it's probably best left to the witnesses to decide whether to answer the questions or not.
On November 2nd, 2006. See this statement in context.