Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House the Minister of Indian Affairs was unable to reply to questions concerning certain highly paternalistic and disdainful comments about aboriginal people made by his ADM. His reason: the memorandum in question was not addressed to the minister himself. What a lame excuse.
The contents of this memo were released by the Globe and Mail . In addition to expressing doubts about the professionalism of the reporters on this respected daily newspaper, and to describing his ADM's comments as ``pretty silly'', the minister has insulted the intelligence of the members of this House and of his constituents by refusing to answer questions on his departmental policy for ridiculous reasons.
It does not matter to whom the memo was addressed; he was at the very least clearly remiss in his duties.