Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Liberal House leader got himself into quite a lather on that role there. The fact that he started with was wrong. I know we are discouraged from commenting on the presence or absence of members in the House of Commons, but the chair of that committee was not present in the House at that time.
The fact is simple. He and I had discussed, in advance, should there be any questions of that committee chair, whether he would respond to them. I advised him clearly that he would respond to them. He understood that. That was what he wished to do, and had he been here, I would have permitted him to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I think you were quite correct in the circumstances in how you handled the matter. If it should have been the vice-chair, then perhaps the opposition House leader has a point. My understanding was that chairs were permitted to answer questions in the House, not vice-chairs.