Mr. Speaker, the other side is obviously anxious and interested to hear what we have to say; that speeds things up.
It is important to wonder about the basic role of the Canadian parliamentary system. In the House, various procedures allow the Opposition members to enquire about government activities. Among these, the Question Period remains a first-rate mean to discover and recognize the true position of the government on current issues.
Therefore, when the government apparently does not wish to answer, we can eventually resort to what is commonly known as the "late show", as you said it yourself, Mr. Speaker, to force the government to act more responsibly and to answer our questions in the best interest of Canadians. That is where we are at now, and I urge the government to give clear answers to the questions of the opposition.
I asked the Minister of National Defence about an incident involving an helicopter of the Canadian Armed Forces and Mohawks in Kanesatake and I got more comments and questions than answers. Opposition members are entitled to ask about the origin of the distress signal detected by Canadian Armed Forces. That signal caused the incident on January 21 and as long as the public does not know where that signal came from, doubts will continue to linger in the mind of all Canadians and Quebecers.
The matter is not closed simply because this government tried to cover it up through a joint statement of National Defence and the Mohawks. On the contrary, one can speculate about the true reasons why the government tries to downplay and ignore the
incident. Maybe this government needs to be reminded that something did happen on January 21.
Why was a distress signal detected in the Kanesatake reserve? If that signal was not used in a real distress situation, why was it sent? Who sent it and why? What kind of device can send this distress signal? Exactly where dit it come from? Was it an act of provocation, or rather a mistake made by the owner of a state-of-art device who accidently sent such a signal? Why Kanesatake?
Those are the kind of questions for which the government refused to give us the information we are entitled to. This incident sets a precedent that can have serious consequences for the population in general.