Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Brien.

Yes, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. I do not have the motion in writing. Mr. Clerk, do you have the motion in writing. I will recognize Mr. Morin on a point of privilege.

Point of Privilege

Thank you, Mr. Morin. I am going to have to check the transcript to see if you have a point of privilege and I reserve judgement at this time. To the point of privilege, Mr. O'Brien. Mr. O'Brien, are you referring to another point of privilege?

Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. I have not yet recognized Mr. Morin's point as a point of privilege, but if you are raising a point of privilege, go right ahead and speak to it, and I will rule later whether you have a point of privilege.

Mr. O'Brien, I would have to first rule on the point of privilege of the Premier. I now understand that you are also raising a point of privilege. So that is another point of privilege that I am going to have to check the Hansard to see exactly what was said, to see if in fact Mr. Morin had first point of privilege. In your regards too, I will have to reserve judgement. I understand that we left off where someone had a motion on the floor and I believe it was you. I requested from you whether or not this motion was in writing. Perhaps while we are getting your motion in writing we can take a short break. Mr. Morin.

Regardless of the situation, at this point I am going to need time to review all this information, so I am going to call a 15 minute break.

Before I return to the motion that is on the floor, I would like to state to the Members of the committee that I am trying to keep straight in my mind the exact order of this point of privilege, point of privilege, point of order that was raised and by the different Members, so that I will then be able to advise the committee as to what I will be doing here. First of all, the point of privilege was raised by Mr. Morin, which was countered with a point of privilege by Mr. O'Brien and countered again by a point of order by Mr. Morin. Since these two points of privilege and one point of order were all raised in relation to what was said previous to these points being raised, I will have to review the transcripts and reserve ruling at this point. However, I understand Mr. Morin has a statement to make and I will recognize Mr. Morin at this point.

Thank you, Mr. Morin. We will now return to the motion that we have on the floor. I now have it in writing and I will ask the Member, Mr. O'Brien, to read his motion.

Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. The motion is in order. To the motion. I have Mr. Miltenberger, Mr. Henry. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for being absent. I zipped out to see the doctor. Obviously it was a mistake to leave the House for any length of time as it appears, like jackals, some have turned on a constituency when the Member was not here. I think it is reprehensible. Mr. Chairman, this issue has come up before and the way that some people pull motions out of their back pockets, it is some type of consensus government by ambush, where there is no warning. We sat around this table, we sat around in Ordinary Members' Caucus, we sat around in government operations. We have dealt with this issue. It was off the table. It was agreed that the plan that was there was justified. In the 11th hour, some folks take it upon themselves to slip this motion in, which I think, at the very least, troubles me greatly. The same Members that are asking for support for their ridings on certain issues. Though I will give them credit, at least this time they did not ask that it be put into their own specific ridings. Though I am sure that would be the intent.

Mr. Chairman, obviously I cannot support this motion. I ask all honourable Members who are fair and clear thinking and have worked through this process for the last nine months to support this motion, to defeat this motion. I think it is an affront. It is an attack on the constituency of Thebacha. The people who are making this motion should feel bloody ashamed. Mr. Chairman, this is unconscionable, in this kind of consensus-based government that we talk about, that we purport to have, when the Members who beat their chests the most often about situations, would do something as duplicitous and underhanded as this. It is totally out of the question for me and if that is the way they want it, if they want to lower the standard of conduct of this House to this kind of back alley kind of stuff, well then we are all going to be the worse for it. That is not the way I like to do business.

We sat around tables and talked about this. I am out of this House for half an hour to go see the doctor and, man, the knives came out of the sheaths slicker than things you can imagine. These guys ought to be proud of this. They could duke it out in the back alleys of Iraq. Some popcorn government that they may be thinking we are trying to run here. Mr. Chairman, I am a little agitated about this particular motion. I will be, obviously, voting against it and I will do my best to tell the people of Fort Smith not to paint all the MLAs with the same brush that some of these MLAs are causing their actions to be interpreted as by this conduct that they are taking towards Fort Smith. Mr. Chairman, I will cease my

comments before I say something I will regret, but this is unacceptable.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Could I ask the Members to please attempt not to be so argumentive. Speak towards the motion. Keep within parliamentary language. I recognize Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. To the motion, Mr. Erasmus.