Madam Speaker: I have four rulings for the House. Order, please. I am ruling on a point of order raised by the honourable First Minister (Mr. Filmon) on November 21, 1996, regarding words spoken by the opposition House leader during a matter of privilege. The words were "I guess the government threatened the Speaker, and she did listen."

I am ruling that the Premier (Mr. Filmon) did not have a point of order. As the appendix to the rule book states, this is a dispute between two members to allegations of facts. The opposition House leader made a statement, and the Premier disagreed.

I took under advisement on November 21, 1996, a point of order raised by the honourable member for Flin Flon (Mr. Jennissen) concerning words he said were spoken by the Premier (Mr. Filmon). The honourable member for Flin Flon stated that the Premier called the member for Dauphin (Mr. Struthers) a name that the member for Flin Flon would not repeat.

A review of the Hansard record relating to the matter does not show any words spoken by the Premier, nor is there anything on the audio tape to indicate words spoken by the First Minister (Mr. Filmon). Therefore, I am unable to rule on the point of order.

On November 25, 1996, the opposition House leader raised a point of order which I took under advisement. The point of order concerned an answer provided by the honourable First Minister (Mr. Filmon) to a question posed by the honourable member for St. Boniface (Mr. Gaudry). The question concerned the First Minister's response to a number of petitions which requested a bilingual version of the new Manitoba licence plate and which had been tabled by the honourable member for St. Boniface. In raising the point of order, the opposition House leader contended that the answer supplied by the Premier (Mr. Filmon) was not specific to the question asked.

Having reviewed Hansard, I find that the opposition House leader did indeed have a point of order. The honourable First Minister should, in replying to questions, deal with the matter raised in the question. His answer was essentially a general response about French language services offered in the province and was not specific to the question posed by the honourable member for St. Boniface, that is, would the Premier personally re-examine the matter of bilingual automobile licence plates.

Order, please. I am ruling on a point of order raised on November 25, 1996, by the honourable member for St. Johns (Mr. Mackintosh) about the relevance of comments made by the then Minister of Government Services, the former member for Portage la Prairie, in his speech on report stage amendments to Bill 67.

Having reviewed Hansard, I find that indeed the honourable member for St. Johns did have a point of order. The minister was not being relevant to the motion which was before the House.

There had been some latitude, I believe, given in the overall debate of the report stage amendments, but the Minister of Government Services' comments had little to do with the bill or the amendment. He was speaking of the future leadership candidates for the NDP party.

I remind all honourable members when speaking to be relevant to the matter under debate.