Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know that question we all asked our Grade 11 teacher: When am I ever going to use this in the real world? Well, today that question is being put to the test.
I am pleased to say that I took statistics in Grade 11 some 30 years ago, and with this ancient knowledge my office took the liberty to evaluate statistically how well Cabinet responded to Regular Members’ oral questions from October 17th to November 4th of this year.
You’re probably wondering why this Regular Member would go through such trouble. This is a good question, and in truth, the science geek in me thought it would be a fun exercise, but the political side of me wanted to use this opportunity to get a mid-term report card for our Cabinet by evaluating the responses of concerned Regular Members. In essence, a small snapshot in time would speak volumes to the stewardship and effectiveness of Cabinet on how they are seen by the public.
So, before I share the results with you and the Members of this House, I want you to be assured that all the rules pertaining to statistical protocols were adhered to, aggregate parameters, qualifiers, as well as other determinants were clearly established in the onset of data collection. In fact, if a response failed within the question determinant, the results went in favour to the Cabinet.
So, what did we discover during these 11 sessional days? There were 478 questions asked during oral questions by Regular Members. Of those questions, 313, or 65.48 percent of the time the Minister answered the question asked. Of the remaining questions, 165, or 34.51 percent of the time the Minister did not answer the question asked. The standard deviation or response phrase have a plus/minus rate of 3.8 percent error. Thank you Grade 11 statistics course.
What does this report card tell us? Clearly, we have to ask ourselves is roughly two out of three questions being answered by Cabinet is a good grade or is this something that can be refined during the remaining life of the 17th Assembly.
I will not answer that question today, but I will leave this with Cabinet to reflect on until we return next February and allow the bank of public opinion the opportunity to weigh in. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
