It is not often we get to bring out House of Commons Procedure and Practice, but I thought we would do that.
On the same page that was quoted, in the section “Questions Concerning Matters Before Committees”, footnote 92 cites pages 10,207 and 10,208:
On occasion, questions directed to committee Chairs have been answered by Ministers and points of order have been raised. For example, during Question Period, opposition Members twice addressed questions to the Chair of a standing committee and the Government House Leader responded.... In the 2008 example, the Liberal House Leader rose the following day on a point of order and asked the Speaker if someone other than the Chair of a committee could respond to a question concerning the agenda of a committee. The Speaker advised that his role is to “take a look at those who are standing to answer and choose who is going to answer”.
I can say that during today's session, no hands went up on Zoom and no other vice-chair stood up. The person who asked the question could not answer the question. Therefore, the government House leader was the one who got to answer that question, because he did stand to answer it.
However, we will look at it further. I do not want to be revising this book, so it is probably going to stand, but we will have a further look at it as well. I appreciate the interest.
The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.