Debates of October 18, 2006 (day 10)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to stand on a point of order. I think I clearly heard the Minister of Health and Social Services threaten my wife. She’s an employee at Stanton Territorial Hospital. She wasn’t one of the 17 health care professionals that showed up at my constituency meeting with these concerns nor was she one of the seven that showed up at my colleague Ms. Lee’s constituency meeting, Mr. Speaker. I take great exception to the Minister threatening me and I think I heard him say my brother, who used to work at North Slave Correctional Centre. Mr. Speaker, I will go back and I will say this for the record, if the Minister doesn’t want to take the word of his deputy, that’s his business. What I am saying and I want to point out, for the record, is the former Minister of Justice didn’t want to listen to the rank and file staff at North Slave Correctional Centre. He listened to the senior bureaucrats. What happened there, Mr. Speaker? We went through a long, protracted human resource review of that facility. You know what? They came up with 63 recommendations. How have those recommendations been acted upon?

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay, for your point of order. I am going to allow a little debate on this because I don’t recall exactly the words that…Mr. Ramsay. I will allow some debate on the point of order. To the point of order. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, clearly, it’s a matter of fact that the Member’s brother did work at the North Slave Correctional Institute during that time period that he referenced. Clearly, his wife is an employee at Stanton Hospital currently. However, my intention is not to threaten the Member; it’s to make a point just to reflect those facts. If I have caused him discomfort or caused him any unhappiness, then I would be very happy to withdraw that particular comment as it may be recorded in Hansard. My intention is not to drag his spouse into this, but just to point out that there is a clear connection. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. To the point of order. Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before the Minister got up and spoke on the point of order, I was thinking to myself I did not hear what was said, but if what the Member from Kam Lake is saying is true, that would cause me a great deal of concern, Mr. Speaker. We are well aware that every Member in this House has spouses, families, children. This is a small community. There are 40,000 people in 33 communities. I bet you there are not many degrees of separation between all of us. Two or three connections will connect us to everybody. It is paramount to our privilege as a Member that we are free of no intimidation or any limitation in discussing issues here. We should not be threatened in any way. If the Minister, if he said anything like what he said like I am understanding, if he made any mention of the fact, I would take great exception to that and I think that should be withdrawn and apologize and the significance of that sort of action should be taken note of.

It’s so important for the work that we do that we are totally free from any sense of limitations that could come from statements like that, Mr. Speaker. I await your ruling on this very important point. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Ramsay, could you clarify under what rule you are raising your point of order?

Yes, thank you. It’s under section 23(i). I believe the Minister was imputing false or hidden motives for my comments here in the House and I take great exception to that. My wife is a nurse at Stanton Territorial Hospital. I am very proud of the job she does there and, in fact, proud of the job that all the health care professionals that we have here in the Northwest Territories do. For the Minister to make comments like that, I take great exception to them. Mr. Speaker, this isn’t the last you will hear from me on that issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the point of order. The Chair is going to take the point of order under advisement and we will return with a ruling at a later date. We have used up approximately five minutes of time on the clock with this point of order, so we're going to turn the clock back five minutes.

---Applause

Oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Okay, we're in question period, right?