Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Yesterday, in response to the Thursday question, the government House leader said:
Next week will be “Honouring our Veterans Week”, allowing members to be in their ridings during this important time.
That is a direct quote.
Apparently, the Department of Finance or the office of the Minister of Finance did not receive a memo in relation to that because, in response to an ongoing request for several weeks for a briefing on the purported side deal on the Atlantic accord with Nova Scotia, yesterday afternoon members received an invitation from the finance minister's office to be in Ottawa Monday for a briefing.
We all know that it would have been quite possible for the finance department to offer a briefing when the House was in session. If all members were to avail themselves of this briefing, we can imagine the cost of all members travelling back to Ottawa during a recess week in order to attend this briefing.
To make matters worse, this is a week, as the hon. House leader has said, and we should be in our ridings during this important time honouring our veterans. I was very sad to learn this morning of the passing of a dear friend and Canadian veteran, Cecil Nickerson, a great person who lived in Middle Sackville and who I represented for some time. His funeral is on Monday.
I would like to hear from the government that it would reschedule this briefing to save taxpayers dollars. Surely the Minister of Finance would want to do that, one would hope, in view of the vast expense this could entail and also so that members could be in their ridings, as suggested by the House leader for the government.