Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I feel that I have to rise on a point of order. I have waited until today to raise the point of order because I wanted to review the Hansard with respect to comments made in the House yesterday by Mr. Bromley.
Yesterday, in his reply to opening address, Mr. Bromley quoted a poem from an income security client and that quote referred, by name, to an income security worker and criticized the performance of that person in the House. These references can be found on page 30 of the March 12, 2013, unedited Hansard, and I quote: “’Hi, is … available?’ I calmly say. “No, sorry, she is not available today.” “Well, I am feeling a little frustrated that my paperwork has been lost. My social worker and I brought it in last week.” “Oh, yes, I remember stamping it and putting it in her box.” From the office space behind, … walks in.”
Thank you. I will allow some debate on this point of order. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly did read those words in the House, as the Speaker knows. It was a poem that was given to me that outlined the experience which happened to be a terrible experience that my constituent had had in accessing income assistance. So I did read the poem just about in its entirety, on the advice of both the Speaker and the Clerk. I did leave out some sensitive words.
I did see the name “Lynn” in the document. I didn’t know if that had been the name of an actual person or had been substituted to rhyme with “walks in” or what. But I didn’t ask that question, either. It didn’t actually cross my mind.
There’s no question that I did read those words out. They certainly weren’t intended to identify an individual or anything like that. That’s all I have to say. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think every Member in this House should be responsible for whatever they bring into this House. If you bring in something written by another person or party that has references to individuals, you should be held responsible to make sure that you don’t refer to individuals. Otherwise, we could all get individuals to write letters and we could read them out holus-bolus without any form of control. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. To the point of order. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve pulled out my book that I treasure very closely. Although I’ll be speaking both for and against the point of order, but to make reference, I think the point of order makes sense, by all means, and I give credit to Minister Jackson who has brought it to the attention of the Assembly. Unfortunately, the rules call upon us to call a point of order at the earliest convenience. Therefore, it probably should have been called right after the prayer.
The only thing I will add is, I agree with the comments added by the Premier that it probably should have been done differently, but that said, I think timely innocent procedure trumps this in this particular case. By the same token, I didn’t take the word that was caused to offence, the name of the employee was, from my perception and perspective, sitting here listening to Mr. Bromley’s comments earlier. I did not treat it as a grievous strike in any manner. It was used in the context as he’s described with good intent. I didn’t feel that there was any other intent to strike against anyone.
With that said, Mr. Speaker, in summary, I agree with the point that the opposition has raised but not in the timeliness, which I think should be ruled out. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the point of order. I will take it under advisement and have it back to the House for you tomorrow.
Before we move on, I would like to wish Mr. Norman Yakeleya a happy birthday today.
---Applause
You almost got away, Norm, without saying something. Happy birthday, Norm. All the best. Thank you for always being there for everybody. You’re a good Member.
