Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I make any comments on our report which we read into the record yesterday, I want to bring Members attention to an error in yesterday's Hansard. It is on page 3667 with regard to rule 2(j)(ii). It should read that one of the privileges of Members is "freedom from arrests" in civil matters, not "freedom of arrests." The rules committee wanted to recognize that Members have freedom of speech and other rights, but we did not intend to start giving Members authority to arrest anyone. I wanted to make that correction in Hansard.

Mr. Chairman, the text of the report of the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and Privileges was read into the record of this House on March 31, 1993. I will make my comments very brief today.

The standing committee has recommended that the proposed revised rule book prepared by the standing committee be adopted by the House to take effect on the first sitting of the fourth session of the 12th Assembly. The standing committee has devoted a great deal of time and effort to its comprehensive revision of the rules. As previously reported the standing committee initially decided to conduct a comprehensive review of the rules at its first meeting during this Assembly, including a focus on eliminating grammatical inconsistencies and gender bias within the rules. As it proceeded with its review the standing committee came to the conclusion that the examination of the rules to simplify and clarify them would also be of benefit.

Following a process of thorough consultation with Members, the standing committee recommended to the House several areas where amendments might be made to improve the rules. Seven of the recommendations of the standing committee were adopted by the House. The Legislative Assembly agreed that these amendments along with revisions to simplify and clarify the rules and to eliminate grammatical inconsistencies and gender bias should be incorporated into the new rule book to be presented to the House. This rule book is now before all Members. The amendments approved by the Assembly, which required the addition of new rules, have been incorporated in rules 38, 59(4), 61, and 93(4) of the revised rule book, as well as directed by the Assembly, the standing committee has removed the procedure whereby members of the public may introduce private bills to the Assembly while retaining the ability of ordinary Members to introduce both public and private bills.

As a recommendation of the standing committee with respect to the presentation of petitions was not accepted by the Assembly, the current procedure by which petitions may be presented only through a Member has not been changed. The standing committee has also clarified definitions used in the rules and has simplified the language and sentence structure of the rules to allow the meaning of the rules to be more clearly understood.

Mr. Chairman, I will pause here to allow any general comments on the new rule book.