It is hard to take seriously anyone who gets his news and opinions from Rick Mercer's Rants on his CBC show.

Mercer is a left leaning Liberal on the left leaning CBC which has a penchant for Harper bashing and Trudeau air brushing. 

His Rick's Rant is a 2 minute piece of political theatre with faked rage and simplified political issues for a naive, unquestioning audience of true believers on the left.

This 2014 segment argues that The Speaker's role is to force government ministers to answer questions in a way that satisfies opposition critics.

Until a speaker is elected dictator, he is not empowered to force any particular answer from anyone.

All speakers are empowered to do is to enforce rules and decorum in The House and to ensure all members have the right to ASK QUESTIONS of ministers.  The answers are up to the ministers.  .

Post 2015 watchers will be struck by the decline in decorum (e.g. Elbow Gate) and by the absence of meaningful answers from ministers since Scheer.