Mr. Speaker, arising out of question period, and relying on chapter 11 of Bosc and Gagnon in replies to oral questions, there were a number of questions today about Vice-Admiral Norman. It is the prerogative of the government to designate a minister to respond.
The government designated the Minister of National Revenue to respond. The government then designated the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence. A redirection of a supplementary question, according to Speaker Francis, has to be indicated in the first response. Therefore, there was no connection to the redirection from the response from the Minister of National Revenue.
I refer you, Mr. Speaker, to the ruling of Speaker Francis from May 17, 1984.
It is my position that the Minister of National Revenue should not have been responding to a question related to Vice-Admiral Norman. However, if it is redirected, it has to be directly linked.