Senator Quinn: Senator Gold, thank you for your response. I agree with the second part as well, that we should ask our Rules Committee to look at this so that we can have equality, if you will, as parliamentarians with those parliamentarians in the other house who have responses delivered within 45 days. It seems that we should have that same privilege as parliamentarians, so I’m glad to hear that you support bringing this to the Rules Committee. That was the nature of my question, so would you, in fact, agree to having this referred to the Rules Committee?

Hon. Jim Quinn: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Senator Gold, I respect the position that you are in as government leader responding to questions asked in this chamber, and given the myriad of questions asked of you, it is unreasonable to expect that you have all of the information on hand for the entire Government of Canada. I think it is entirely reasonable for you to make inquiries and follow-up regarding parliamentary returns.

The concern that I have is the length of time it regularly takes to receive answers to written questions and delayed answers. For example, over the past weeks, there were answers tabled to written questions dating back to 2021 and several others that were asked many months ago.

Senator Gold, would you agree that these extended timelines impact the ability of senators to fulfill their role as parliamentarians by limiting their ability to have timely information on government policy?