A noteworthy exchange from question period Thursday in the House of Commons

OTTAWA – The Canadian Press is always on the lookout for noteworthy or zesty exchanges on the floor of the House of Commons. On Thursday, the NDP’s Niki Ashton set her sights on the government’s refusal to call an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women. Conservative MP Robert Goguen, parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister Peter MacKay, fielded the question.

Ashton: Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Justice, when asked if nothing more could be done for 1,200 missing and murdered indigenous women in our country, responded, “What we do not need is haughty, condescending questions from the opposition.”

What families definitely do not need is condescending attitudes from a minister of the Crown, so we dare to ask again. Will the minister and his government respond to the demands of families and Canadians across this country for a national public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women?

Goguen: Mr. Speaker, over time over 40 studies have been conducted yet the violence continues.

Kathy Meyer, whose daughter Angela went missing four years ago, was quoted as saying, “I think inquiries cost a lot of money and I don’t know if anything comes out of them.”

We will put the money toward real solutions in the communities with the aboriginals to try to curb the violence against the women.