Madam Speaker: I have two rulings for the House. Order, please.
During Question Period on June 23, I took under advisement a point of order raised by the opposition House leader respecting words spoken by the First Minister in response to a question asked by the honourable member for St. Johns (Mr. Mackintosh). The opposition House leader asked that the words be withdrawn and stated that they contravened Beauchesne Citation 484 as well as being unparliamentary. The words in question were "I know that the member opposite does not have issues of substance, so he chooses to look for substance of slime when he comes to Question Period."
The opposition House leader did have a point of order. Citation 484 states that a member will not be permitted to impute unworthy motives to the actions of another member. I would ask the First Minister to withdraw the words he spoke.
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Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): I would be pleased to withdraw those words, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker: I thank the honourable First Minister.
On June 25, the Deputy Speaker took under advisement a point of order raised by the opposition House leader respecting words the Premier allegedly spoke from his seat during a speech by the honourable member for The Maples (Mr. Kowalski) during a matter of privilege. The words spoken, according to the opposition House leader, were "phoney tactical crap," and he asked that the words be withdrawn. When taking the matter under advisement, the Deputy Speaker indicated that if the words in question had been picked up in Hansard, a ruling would come back to the House.
The words which appear in the Hansard record are "phoney tactical."
Speakers in Manitoba and other Canadian jurisdictions have ruled that words not spoken on the record cannot be the subject of intervention. These rulings are based on Beauchesne Citation 486(4) which states that remarks which do not appear in the public record and are therefore private conversations not heard by the Chair do not invite the intervention of the Speaker, although members have apologized for hurtful remarks uttered in such circumstances.
Therefore, I cannot ask that the words be withdrawn, but I would ask the Premier (Mr. Filmon) to be prudent in the choice of his language.