Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister is not in the House, other ministers are responsible for answering questions from the party leaders on his behalf.
Since the day the members of the NDP did me the honour of choosing me to be the leader of the official opposition, I have asked a total of 115 questions when the Prime Minister was not in the House. In 112 of those 115 cases—98% of the time—a man has answered me on the government's behalf. That is 112 out of 115 times.
Why does the Prime Minister not trust his female cabinet ministers to answer on behalf of his government?