Speaker's Ruling

Madam Speaker: I have a ruling for the House.

On June 3, 1996, I took under advisement a point of order raised by the opposition House leader (Mr. Ashton) about comments made by the honourable Minister of Education (Mrs. McIntosh) when answering a question. In raising his point of order, the opposition House leader made reference to Beauchesne Citation 417 and asked that the minister be called to order and asked that the words spoken by the minister be withdrawn.

The opposition House leader referenced the phrase used by the minister, “Could you call the--The interruptions are most rude.” The opposition House leader said the comments were “absolutely inappropriate and unacceptable” and that the minister “should not lecture anyone in this House about being rude.”

The Minister of Education in speaking to the point of order said that the member for Wolseley (Ms. Friesen), “All during my attempt to answer the question the same member who asked the question was heckling from her seat, clearly not listening to the answer and distracting this side from providing the answer that I thought they had requested.”

On the matter of the words spoken by the honourable Minister of Education which the opposition House leader requested be withdrawn, the words in question I believe were, “The interruptions are most rude.” These words are not in my opinion unparliamentary. I would, however, request that the Minister of Education observe the guidelines as referenced in Beauchesne Citation 417: An answer should (1) be as brief as possible (2) deal with the question raised and (3) not provoke debate.