I agree, that's poor practice and should not be permitted. In democracies the government is supposed to be answerable to the people. I suppose they would claim that to answer would reveal secret information, though that is too often used to cover up incompetence or outright wrongdoing.
I think by that time members of the Harper inner circle had come to the point where they no longer felt accountable to anyone, they certainly acted that way. Until October rolled around and we kicked them out of power. The questions in the House were pretty basic, how long did our government intend to have Canadians involved in a very bloody war.
Incompetence and wrongdoing became - or always were - the core of the Harper government, as I think it does in any authoritarian government.
Order, order, order... order, order... I must insist... order, order... that the honorable gentleman... order, order, order... orderrr... in the name of propriety and all that is decent... order... simply choose another word... order, order... (the word beginning with "a" and ending with "n"), order, order, order... to describe the former government. Order...