(English) Come Clean House Speaker ScheerFaites la lumière sur le président de la Chambre Scheer

Veuillez envoyer votre lettre dès maintenant pour demander au président de la Chambre des communes, Andrew Scheer, de faire preuve de transparence et d’utiliser le pouvoir dont il dispose pour clarifier les réponses données par les ministres et les politiciens lors de la période des questions.

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La semaine dernière, le député conservateur Paul Calandra, censé répondre aux questions du premier ministre Harper et d’autres ministres à la Chambre des communes, a refusé de répondre à une simple question à trois reprises et a plutôt lancé à plusieurs reprises des attaques grossières contre un membre de l’un des partis d’opposition.

Le président de la Chambre des communes, Andrew Scheer, également député conservateur, a refusé de faire quoi que ce soit pour s’assurer que M. Calandra réponde à la question.

Le lendemain, le Président Scheer a rendu une décision affirmant qu’il n’avait pas le pouvoir de s’assurer que les ministres et les politiciens du gouvernement traitent les sujets soulevés dans les questions des députés de l’opposition.

Le Président Scheer a tort ! Le Règlement de la Chambre des communes stipule que les réponses à la période des questions « doivent être aussi brèves que possible, traiter du sujet abordé et être formulées dans un langage qui ne provoque pas de désordre à la Chambre. »

Le Président Scheer aurait pu, et aurait dû, exiger de Paul Calandra qu’il réponde de manière respectueuse et aborde le sujet soulevé par les questions.

Récemment, le NPD a proposé des modifications pour clarifier encore davantage le Règlement et le pouvoir du Président, mais les conservateurs ont rejeté ces modifications.

Si les ministres et les politiciens ne sont pas tenus de répondre aux questions pendant la période des questions, mais peuvent utiliser ce temps pour lancer des attaques, un moyen essentiel de demander des comptes au Premier ministre et au gouvernement sera perdu, et la période des questions continuera d’être dévalorisée.

Veuillez envoyer votre lettre dès maintenant pour demander au Président Scheer de faire la lumière sur la période des questions.

Informations clés sur le Président et les réponses pendant la période des questions

En vertu du Règlement de la Chambre des communes, le Président ne peut pas obliger un ministre ou un politicien à répondre intégralement à une question d’un membre de l’opposition. Cependant, il a le pouvoir et peut prendre des mesures pour s’assurer qu’il réponde honnêtement, sans chahuter ni provoquer de troubles et, encore une fois, que sa réponse porte sur le sujet de la question.

Pour consulter les règles de la section « Réponses aux questions orales » du Règlement de la Chambre des communes, cliquez ici et faites défiler la page jusqu’à cette section.

Et nous vous invitons à soutenir cette campagne jusqu’à ce que ces changements clés pour assainir la période des questions soient obtenus. Pour faire un don maintenant, veuillez cliquer ici.

Send your letter now calling on House Speaker Andrew Scheer to come clean and use the clear power he has to clean up Question Period!

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Dear Speaker Scheer,

Last week, Conservative MP Paul Calandra, answering questions in the House of Commons for Prime Minister Harper and other Cabinet ministers, refused to answer a simple question three times and instead repeatedly launched a profanity-laden attack on a member of one of the opposition parties.

When asked to do so, you refused to do anything to ensure Mr. Calandra answered the question.

The next day, you issued a ruling claiming you have no power to ensure government Cabinet ministers and politicians deal with the subjects raised in questions from opposition MPs – you went further to claim that you have no responsibility for the content of answers to questions asked in Question Period.

However, in fact under the rules in the House of Commons’ rule book, you do ensure that all statements in the House, including answers to questions, are truthful and respectful.

I call on you to enforce the additional rule in the House of Commons’ rule book that says that answers in Question Period “are to be as brief as possible, to deal with the subject matter raised and to be phrased in language that does not provoke disorder in the House.”

As I am sure you know, this rule is set out in the “Replies to Oral Questions” section of the House of Commons rule book that you cited in your ruling concerning Mr. Calandra’s answers.

It is true, as that section says, that government Cabinet ministers and politicians are not required to provide full answers to oral questions – various forms of non-answers are allowed in part because they may not have the answer at hand. You are therefore not responsible for the quality or content of replies to oral questions in this way. This is for the obvious reason that you, as Speaker, could not enforce a rule that required full answers – you would have to be an instant expert in every area asked about in order to enforce such a rule. That would be impossible.

However, that section contains the other rule that answers must deal with the subject of the question. You are clearly responsible for ensuring that replies to oral questions comply with this rule.

As a result, I call on you Speaker Scheer:

To state publicly that there is an enforceable rule in the House of Commons rule book that required Paul Calandra to provide an answer that dealt with the subject of the questions he was asked (and not provoke disorder with his answers);
To state publicly that you could have, and should have, required Paul Calandra to comply with the rule by answering the questions posed to him in a respectful way that addressed the issue raised by the questions, and;
To state publicly that you will enforce this rule in the future in all cases.

If government Cabinet ministers and politicians are not required to answer questions in Question Period, but instead can use that time to launch attacks on unrelated subjects, a key way of holding the Prime Minister and the government accountable will be lost, and Question Period will continue to be debased and degraded.

So please, Speaker Scheer, come clean and clean up Question Period by making it clear with a public statement that you should have enforced all the rules that applied to Paul Calandra’s replies last week, and that in the future in all cases you will enforce all the rules that apply to Question Period answers.

Canadians expect and deserve no less from you.

Dear Speaker Scheer,
Last week, Conservative MP Paul Calandra, answering questions in the House of Commons for Prime Minister Harper and other Cabinet ministers, refused to answer a simple question three times and instead repeatedly launched a profanity-laden attack on a member of one of the opposition parties.
When asked to do so, you refused to do anything to ensure Mr. Calandra answered the question.
The next day, you issued a ruling claiming you have no power to ensure government Cabinet ministers and politicians deal with the subjects raised in questions from opposition MPs – you went further to claim that you have no responsibility for the content of answers to questions asked in Question Period.
However, in fact under the rules in the House of Commons’ rule book, you do ensure that all statements in the House, including answers to questions, are truthful and respectful.
I call on you to enforce the additional rule in the House of Commons’ rule book that says that answers in Question Period “are to be as brief as possible, to deal with the subject matter raised and to be phrased in language that does not provoke disorder in the House.”
As I am sure you know, this rule is set out in the “Replies to Oral Questions” section of the House of Commons rule book that you cited in your ruling concerning Mr. Calandra’s answers.
It is true, as that section says, that government Cabinet ministers and politicians are not required to provide full answers to oral questions – various forms of non-answers are allowed in part because they may not have the answer at hand. You are therefore not responsible for the quality or content of replies to oral questions in this way. This is for the obvious reason that you, as Speaker, could not enforce a rule that required full answers – you would have to be an instant expert in every area asked about in order to enforce such a rule. That would be impossible.
However, that section contains the other rule that answers must deal with the subject of the question. You are clearly responsible for ensuring that replies to oral questions comply with this rule.
As a result, I call on you Speaker Scheer:
<ol>
<li>To state publicly that there is an enforceable rule in the House of Commons rule book that required Paul Calandra to provide an answer that dealt with the subject of the questions he was asked (and not provoke disorder with his answers);
<li>To state publicly that you could have, and should have, required Paul Calandra to comply with the rule by answering the questions posed to him in a respectful way that addressed the issue raised by the questions, and;
<li>To state publicly that you will enforce this rule in the future in all cases.
</ol>
If government Cabinet ministers and politicians are not required to answer questions in Question Period, but instead can use that time to launch attacks on unrelated subjects, a key way of holding the Prime Minister and the government accountable will be lost, and Question Period will continue to be debased and degraded.
So please, Speaker Scheer, come clean and clean up Question Period by making it clear with a public statement that you should have enforced all the rules that applied to Paul Calandra’s replies last week, and that in the future in all cases you will enforce all the rules that apply to Question Period answers.
Canadians expect and deserve no less from you.

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