Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. Before I proceed with oral questions, I would like to provide the House with my ruling on the point of order raised by the Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Lewis, yesterday during question period.
Speaker's Ruling
I think it is important to remind the House of the circumstances that lead up to Mr. Lewis raising his point of order. The Premier was in the process of answering the supplementary question originally posed to the Minister of Personnel by the honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson. The supplementary question posed by Mr. Patterson is contained on page 305 of the unedited Hansard. Although the preamble to Mr. Patterson's supplementary was long and his actual question was, and I quote, "For the new long-term staff housing strategy, are there similar guidelines or procedures available for government employees when they are dealing with questions and implementing that strategy?"
The Premier then proceeded to answer the supplementary question and indicated in the first part of her response the following, and I quote again from page 305 of the unedited Hansard, "I have been looking at Hansard and looking at some of the questions. I would like to bring into perspective the process that we started with and why we are here in terms of the long-term staff housing policy, or strategy, so everyone will have the same information. Some of the questions and supplementaries will be incorporated in this explanation." My review of the unedited Hansard indicates that the Premier then proceeded to give an explanation of the process of establishing and implementing the long-term staff housing strategy. My review also indicates that the Premier did not specifically answer Mr. Patterson's question until just before Mr. Lewis raised his point of order and, in fact, the Premier was just beginning to specifically answer Mr. Patterson's question when Mr. Lewis' point of order interrupted the honourable Member for Nunakput.
To the point of order raised by Mr. Lewis. Mr. Lewis in raising his point of order indicated that, and I quote from page 306 of the unedited Hansard, "This is a long response and it is very unclear to me what the question is that this response is being made to." As I indicated yesterday, there is nothing in our rules that indicates the time frame that should be allotted for reply to oral questions. The chair can get guidance from other authorities and numerous cautions and advice from the chair by our former Speakers in the matter of asking and answering oral questions. I quote from Beauchesne's Parliamentary Rules and Forms 6th edition, citation 410 (5) "The primary purpose of question period is the seeking of information and call the government to account." I am sure all Members will agree that this is the primary purpose, and to ensure the efficient use of question period there are a number of general principles that should guide us. The point of order raised by Mr. Lewis provides the chair with an opportunity to provide the House with a number of principles that I hope will guide all Members in posing questions and Ministers in responding. It will also give notice to all honourable Members how I intend to approach the conduct of question period. I would like to offer a couple of citations from Beauchesne's 6th edition:
Citation 408 (1)(e) "Such questions should not be of a nature requiring a lengthy and detailed answer." Of course, written questions are the item on the order paper for these types of questions. In saying this, however, there are times a Member's questions may get a lengthy answer from a Minister when one is not needed.
The following citation I also considered in making my ruling. Citation 409 (11) "A question which seeks an opinion about government policy is probably out of order in that it asks for an opinion and not information. A question asking for a general statement of government policy may be out of order in that it requires a long answer that should be made on motions (now statements by Ministers) or in debate. Other questions inevitably deal with government policy and the general restrictions regarding such questions have never been applied."
These citations assisted me when dealing with asking questions and the type of questions that should be asked. The other side of the question period, of course, is the answers by Ministers. I offer a citation again from Beauchesne's 6th edition.
The chair feels that the following citation is appropriate when dealing with the point of order before us today, and I quote citation 417 "Answers to questions should be as brief as possible, deal with the matter raised and should not provoke debate."
I rule that Mr. Lewis does have a point of order as the Premier did indicate in her response that, and I quote, "Some of the questions and supplementaries will be incorporated in this explanation." If the primary purpose of question period is the seeking of information and to ensure that the ordinary Members can get this information, and the Ministers have an opportunity to provide the information, it is important that efficient use of question period is made. I would suggest that the Premier did try to answer questions and supplementaries that had been taken as notice on previous days, as well as earlier yesterday by the Minister of Personnel. There would have been an opportunity for the Minister of Personnel and the Premier to provide a response in the item "returns to oral questions," or by using other avenues available on the order paper such as tabling of documents. The chair, however, is cognisant of the fact that the Premier was trying to provide information to the House that the House had requested.
In summary, it is not the chair's wish to try in any way to prevent a free-flowing exchange during question period as Members endeavour to carry out their responsibilities, but I will try to keep it as flexible as possible so that question period does not get bogged down with lengthy questions or lengthy answers, so that all Members can participate fully in question period without placing an impediment on their fundamental right of freedom of speech. Thank you.
Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik, Mr. Koe.