Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments which have been made by my hon. colleague, but oftentimes when members put questions they think that we can press a button and give them an answer.
Since the hon. member has raised this matter a number of times, it is important that I spend a bit of House time to review exactly what he has asked for and draw his attention to the fact that the question he has put, as he created the question, is very broad. In fact, it is so broad that it is taking, I would suggest, probably hundreds of hours of work by civil servants throughout the country to collect the information he has asked for. It is not that he should not want to get the information. I do not impugn his motives.
I know the hon. member has expressed an interest in receiving the information, but when one looks at the broadness of the question it asks not only about the information being stolen from the RCMP but also from provincial police forces, municipal police forces, individual police forces and military establishments. One can see very quickly that it is such a broad question that the answer obviously has to be as comprehensive. I would suggest that it is going to cost literally thousands and thousands of dollars to get this information.
I am happy to hear for the first time my hon. colleague suggest that he acknowledges that this is a very broad question and that maybe he would like some partial information or a bit of information that might be available based on the breadth of his question. On that basis I would be happy to see if there is a possibility of getting some information.
While I am on my feet, the other question the member referred to is Question No. 52. I am also happy to hear that he is interested in some partial information. However, I would draw his attention to the fact that Question No. 52 asks to go back 10 years. Unfortunately, that information, as my hon. colleague would know, is not readily available. There is no computerized compilation of that kind of information.
Therefore while I understand his frustration, I think he should also appreciate the cost of getting this information and the hundreds of hours of civil servant time involved. Perhaps if he would craft his question a little differently we would be able to accommodate.