Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman in terms of the pay range, which I believe the Member has, it is at the same level. It was similar to what other chiefs of staff would be paid elsewhere across the country. So in that sense, yes it is the most senior political position in the government, one of the most senior. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Since the Minister is wanting to compare other jurisdictions with that position, can he inform us, in other positions of chief of staff, what category would it actually fall under?

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, most of these positions, if not all of them across the country, are outside of the public service. They would not fit into any particular pay category.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It would be just so good to get an answer that would be clear. Now earlier, and I think that we can go to unedited Hansard where in this area that the position is in the general provisions of the Public Service Act. Now he is saying it is not in, but outside. So is it or is it not?

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Voytilla

Thank you, Mr. Voytilla. Mr. Roland.

Mr. Chairman, on a supplementary appropriation, one has to consider if in fact we support the supplementary appropriation because of the expenditures made from this government. I am having a large bit of difficulty in supporting the expenditures made here with the different type of responses, or the unclear terminology being used.

Again, I go back to unedited Hansard, page 1131, the Honourable Joe Handley:

Mr. Chairman, the employment contract for the chief of staff was entered into pursuant to the general employment provisions of the Public Service Act.

Is that in fact the case? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Handley.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, that is the case. I think that is what Mr. Voytilla just said. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have no further questions in this area.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just for a little bit of clarification on some comments that were made previously by Ms. Lee when she questioned the Minister about the potential of information from a confidential briefing having been leaked in some fashion by himself or staff or someone in the room who was there when the confidential briefing took place, I just wanted to point out that briefing actually took place Friday morning....

-- Interjection

Thursday? Was it Thursday? Okay. Pardon me. The briefing took place on Thursday. This matter was not discussed in the House until Friday afternoon, shortly before adjournment. In the copy of the Yellowknifer, which came out early on Friday morning, quotes attributed to Ms. Lee include:

Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee said she believes that Bayly resigned and has no doubt that Lynda Sorensen was involuntarily let go. Lee said a Cabinet Minister threatened to quit if Sorensen did not resign. Lee said she believes Bayly got a year's salary. Because it was concluded there was no just cause for dismissing Sorensen, her settlement was much larger, Lee said.

I just wanted to point out that in fact Ms. Lee's attempt...

-- Interjection

-- Laughter

Mr. Bell said, "She has found the leak." It would appear that in fact, it was Ms. Lee who spoke to the media about the nature of the settlements, and heaven only knows what else.

Anyway, I want to go back to something that Mr. Bell was questioning about and did not really get a satisfactory response to. When it came to the negotiation of the termination contract, I believe Ms. Snider indicated that she was the person who negotiated that contract with Ms. Sorensen. I would just like to know if that took place in a face-to-face meeting. Thank you.

A point of order has been called. Ms. Lee, your point of order.

Point of Order

My point of order is on a section of the rules that is used a lot in this House, which has to do with Members imputing motive. Sorry, Mr. Chairman, I just have to look it up. I just heard the statements being made by my colleague, the Member for Hay River South, implying that somehow I had leaked the information that was given to the committee. If I recall her quote correctly, she said "...and God knows what else." I ask you to check the transcript. That is taking it to another ground. Mr. Chairman, if you could just be patient with me, I would like to look up the rule, point of order, section 23(g)(i), says "Imputes false or hidden motives to another Member." And (h), "Makes allegations against another Member." (j), "Charges another Member with uttering a deliberate falsehood."

Mr. Chairman, my point is that we all know and the Minister has established this fact in this House, it was not me. The Minister has said that he released the information in confidence, detailed information about the separation contracts. We had access to this information on Thursday. I know for a fact that Members in this House were interviewed by the media. The media asked me if they could talk to me about the supplementary budget. I responded to the media. I have no control over what the media prints.

Mr. Chairman, there are a lot of things in the statement that the Member for Hay River South is making. I believe that it is totally out of order, out of the decency and civility that we should be following in this House. I ask for your ruling. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the point of order. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Chairman, Ms. Lee made a large issue in her comments, and I do not have the unedited Hansard to refer to, but she made a large issue of the fact that she felt information that had been shared by the committee in confidence had been somehow let into the public domain. All I am doing is merely pointing out that the quotes that came out between the time the committee had the confidential briefing and when this was raised in this House are attributed to Ms. Lee. No one else. I just find it unusual that she would find it so suspicious and so offensive that this information could have been in the public when in fact the quotes are in the newspaper with her name attributed to them.

Now, if she wants to question whether the media reported her comments correctly, that is another issue. I do not think that setting the record straight on this matter is certainly outside of the parameters of decency and civility. In fact, Ms. Lee should retract those comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell, to the point of order.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The point of order, I suppose, was partially lost on me. I believe if you check unedited Hansard and look at the comments Ms. Lee, I believe, and I could be mistaken, but I believe she made, earlier, she suggested "He played a part in releasing that information to the public" and she was referring to Mr. Handley. This is just going by memory, so I stand to be corrected. I believe Mrs. Groenewegen simply offered another possible manner in which some of this information was released to the public. In doing so, it is possible that the media entirely misquoted Ms. Lee. I would not doubt that those kinds of things happen. It has happened to me in the past as well, but I believe Mrs. Groenewegen simply offered another possible answer as to how some of this got into the realm of the public. Thank you.