Mr. Speaker, if the member had been listening attentively yesterday, he would have heard me say at the conclusion of my remarks that I do not believe any Canadian, after listening to a question that took close to 20 minutes to enter into the record, would agree that it fits the definition of “concise”. Of course it does not. O'Brien and Bosc is quite clear on the fact that it must be a concise question. Otherwise, the option is to either withdraw the question or break that one question into multiple parts.
I am not sure if my hon. friend is aware of other procedures in the House, but one is that a member can only have four priority questions on the order paper at any one time. What the Liberals appear to be doing is asking a question of such volume and length that they can get four of those types of questions on at one time, when in fact, I would suggest, Question No. 614 should be broken down into at least four or five questions rather than one.
All we are suggesting is that if the hon. member wants to ask questions, he should follow proper procedures and practices, make the questions concise and present them in such a fashion that the government has the ability to answer in 45 days, which is the priority deadline. The member should know that when a question is over 1,500 words in length, it is near impossible for this government or any government to respond by the 45-day deadline. If he truly wants answers to questions, he should do so in a fashion that allows the government to answer accordingly within the 45-day limit, or else make the question a non-priority question.
I would suggest that my hon. colleague read O'Brien and Bosc and get the procedures and practices correct before he raises a question, as he did with Question No. 614.