Question of Privilege
April 30, 2024
Question of privilege concerning the government response to Q-2340
Hon. Greg Fergus
Speaker of the House
Ruling Text
The Speaker:
The Chair would like to make a statement concerning the question of privilege raised on April 10, 2024 by the member for Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, about the government response to Order Paper Question No. 2340.
That day, the member contended that the response to Question No. 2340, answered on Monday, April 8, 2024, was inconsistent with previous announcements made by the government.
[Translation]
On April 11, 2024, the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, who had originally submitted the written question, intervened on this matter. He further noted that a similar inconsistency appeared in the government's response to another of his questions, Q‐2142, answered on January 29, 2024.
[English]
The parliamentary secretary to the government House leader acknowledged that, in both instances, there were administrative errors that led to inaccurate information being provided in the responses. He committed that the government would be tabling revised responses to both questions in short order to address the matter. Those responses were tabled yesterday. Considering the explanations, apologies and revised responses provided by the parliamentary secretary, I consider the matter closed.
The Chair does note, however, that this is the second instance in the last sitting weeks where the government has had to table revised responses after members complained about receiving inaccurate information. I trust that these are isolated mistakes. I nonetheless invite the government to take swift action to develop stronger internal checks and ensure that it does not happen again. The Chair is keenly aware of this problem and expects that members' rights and privileges are to be respected.
I thank all members for their attention.
Edit Metadata
Holding
"As the government acknowledged the administrative errors, apologized, and tabled revised responses, the matter is considered closed."
AI Summary
The Speaker closed a question of privilege regarding inaccurate government responses after the government apologized and tabled corrected information, while warning against future errors.
AI Analysis
- Outcome
- Other
- Tone
- Stern
- Procedural Stage
- Speaker's Statement
- Significance
Low
High