Madam Speaker: I have two rulings for the House.

The Deputy Speaker on April 7 took under advisement a point of order raised by the honourable member from Crescentwood (Mr. Sale) about language he claimed had been used in reference to him by the honourable Minister of Urban Affairs (Mr. Reimer). The Deputy Speaker, when taking the matter under advisement, undertook to examine Hansard to see what record there was of the exchange.

I have read the Hansard of April 7. The minister did not have the floor, and there is no record in Hansard of any words spoken by him. The audio tapes have been listened to, and they show no indication of the comments of the Minister of Urban Affairs. Therefore the Chair is unable to rule on the point of order.

* (1420)

On April 12, 1999, the opposition House leader during Question Period raised a point of order respecting words spoken by the honourable First Minister (Mr. Filmon) about the honourable member for Swan River (Ms. Wowchuk) when the First Minister was responding to a question posed by the member. The opposition House leader contended that the honourable First Minister had attributed motives and had asked that the unparliamentary comments be withdrawn.

Having reviewed the Hansard for April 12, 1999, I would agree with the opposition House leader. I would therefore request the honourable First Minister to withdraw the words complained of.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Yes, Madam Speaker, I would be happy to withdraw those remarks.

Madam Speaker: I thank the honourable First Minister.

On April 13, during Question Period, the honourable member for The Maples (Mr. Kowalski) raised a point of order respecting an answer provided by the honourable Minister of Energy and Mines (Mr. Newman) to a question posed by the honourable member for Inkster (Mr. Lamoureux). I took the matter under advisement in order to review Hansard and determine precisely what the minister said.

Hansard shows that the minister stated: ". . . the deal is not completed yet, and I would be very interested in knowing whether the Liberal Party of the province of Manitoba does support the deal in principle and just what–"

The honourable member for The Maples indeed did have a point of order. Question Period is not a time for debate, and when answering questions a minister should not provoke debate.