Madam Speaker: I have two rulings for the House.

I am ruling on a matter I took under advisement during Question Period on May 14, 1996. The opposition House leader (Mr. Ashton) raised a point of order about the orderliness of an answer given by the honourable Minister of Health (Mr. McCrae) to a question posed by the honourable member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak). It was contended that the answer was in contravention of Beauchesne Citation 417. The citation reads, Answers should be as brief as possible, deal with the matter raised and should not provoke debate.

The question related to the privatization of home care services and the minister had begun to answer when a point of order was raised about comments in that answer about the honourable member for Inkster (Mr. Lamoureux), which the minister subsequently retracted.

Because the minister had just begun to answer, it was difficult to judge the orderliness of the content of the answer at that point. However, I would encourage ministers to deal with the matter raised when answering a question.

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On May 14, 1996, I took under advisement a point of order raised by the honourable member for Radisson (Ms. Cerilli) respecting words used by the honourable Minister of Health (Mr. McCrae) in answer to a question posed by the honourable member for Radisson. In raising the point of order, the honourable member asked that the “incorrect statements” be withdrawn. I believe the words used by the honourable Minister of Health in question were: “I remind the honourable member of her inaugural speech in this House where she quoted Karl Marx proudly. Karl Marx, she was so proud to tell us, said: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. This honourable member who worships at the shrine of Karl Marx ought to be cheering loudly for our Pharmacare program.”

I believe this was a dispute over the facts. The honourable member for Radisson was contending that she had quoted Tommy Douglas and J.S. Woodsworth--

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. This is a very serious matter.

--while the minister in his answer was referring to a quotation from Karl Marx. There is therefore no point of order. However, I would admonish the Minister of Health for his choice of words; a phrase such as the one he used that a member “worships at the shrine of Karl Marx” did cause disorder and impaired the decorum of the House.