Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of privilege under rule 20(1). Mr. Speaker, in accordance with this rule, I have provided you with a copy of an article from the March 20th Yellowknifer. The article is by Doug Schmidt. The words that concern me are in the second caption that states, "Speaker gags MLAs from negative character references."

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of privilege and I guess I could quote Beauchesne's Parliamentary Rules and Forms, 6th edition, citation 168(1). Your role, Mr. Speaker, is to guide this Assembly and it's Members through debate, then make judgements about the rules or to present a decision on matters relating to the rules, privileges and procedures of this House. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask that Members review the headline and, in doing so, recognize that what comes out of this headline is the insinuation that you have gagged Members of this House. I find it offensive as you have not gagged Members as that would be denying our freedom of speech. As you are aware, Mr. Speaker, Members are not permitted to reflect on the character or action of the Speaker. If we do, we may be punished as a breach of privileges.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to point this out because those same kinds of punishments have historically been given to reporters, newspapers and other media vehicles or mediums. I think, Mr. Speaker, you should review this particular matter and, in fact, ask that the paper take care in the words that they use that might mislead the public and appear to criticize you, sir, for whom I think we all have a great deal of respect, not only for yourself but for the position that you hold. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause