Hon. James S. Cowan (Leader of the Opposition):

Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I do not expect her to answer it this morning, but I ask her to look into it.

Yesterday, the Deputy Leader of the Government filed a delayed answer to an oral question, and the same answer was given both to me and my colleague Senator Fraser. It arose first out of Question Period on October 26 when I asked Senator LeBreton about the language qualifications of the now Auditor General. She took the questions as notice.

During his appearance at the Committee of the Whole on November 1, we had an opportunity to ask questions of Mr. Ferguson, officials of the Treasury Board, and, I think, the Privy Council Office. We asked questions at that time about Mr. Ferguson's proficiency in both official languages. During the Committee of the Whole, we asked Mr. Ferguson and the officials what the results of the language tests were, and Mr. Ferguson said he could not remember but would look into it and get back to us.

The response to the questions by me and Senator Fraser that we received in the delayed answer filed by Senator Carignan was to the effect that on November 1 officials appeared and that we had an opportunity to ask questions and to listen to the answers. It goes on to say:

These individuals responded respectfully and fully to all questions . . .

Given the appearance by these individuals before the Committee, the Minister respectfully submits that the government has fully responded to the questions raised by the Honourable Senators.

Certainly, we had a good exchange with Mr. Ferguson and with the officials, but on that one issue we did not get the result. Would the minister look into that over the break and get back to us with the results of the test which Mr. Ferguson had taken? Those are the results which he could not recall and said he would look into and get back to us.

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