I do have a problem where, in a couple of instances, people have inferred motive to people and the questions they asked. The members who are before this committee are good and decent people. We may disagree on the substance of policy matters, but I would ask the committee to refrain from inferring motive to members of the committee. That would be a legitimate point of order. I would have ruled if somebody had raised that, but in terms of asking whether one matter is a priority over another, I rather suspect that this is much ado about nothing, in the sense that I very much doubt Mr. Toller will respond, because it would probably be a question better placed to a minister than to somebody within the bureaucracy. It's going to be more a rhetorical question, I imagine, than anything else. Of course, a member is able to ask a question about relative priority of different government expenditures. I can't find a reason that I would rule that out of order.
On March 25th, 2010. See this statement in context.