Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order respecting questions on the order paper.
I have a complaint that is a weekly sort of rant. Under the provisions of Standing Order 39 members are allowed to put up to four questions on the order paper. I wish to remind the House and the Canadian public that those questions are put on the order paper for a very specific purpose. The House allows that provision in the standing orders in order to allow members of parliament to do their job.
I have had two questions on the order paper well in excess of 60 days with no response from the government. Madam Speaker, with the generosity that you exercise from the chair, could you imagine any government minister putting questions to the government and having to wait more than 24 hours for those answers? The fact is the government has the resources to answer those questions today if it wants to.
There is such a thing as transparency. In the business of politics there should be transparency. This restricts my ability to represent my constituents.
To conclude, this is a very important topic dealing with the Department of Human Resources Development, the abuse of shellfishers in eastern Canada and the violation of the code of ethics of government employees.
It is important that the Canadian public and members of parliament know the answers to those questions. It is inexcusable that we have to wait in excess of 60 days for answers to very important questions.