M*zzled

The Government Side, the slur-hurling, desk-thumping, shout-downing goon squad of a Government Side, suddenly discovers this crazy little thing decorum:

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I did not interrupt Question Period to make a point of order, but I would like to bring forward now what I would like to address.

Mr. Speaker, Standing Order 49 of our Standing Orders of the House of Assembly reads, "No Member shall speak disrespectfully of Her Majesty, nor of any of the Royal Family, nor of the Governor or Administrator of the Government of Canada; nor of the Lieutenant-Governor of this Province; nor use offensive words against any Member of this House. No Member may reflect upon any vote of the House except for the purpose of moving that such vote be rescinded."

Mr. Speaker, the section of this Standing Order that I would like to address is the fact that says; "…nor use offensive words against any Member of this House."

During Question Period, Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition spoke about Members of this House of Assembly muzzling the Child and Youth Advocate. Mr. Speaker, that is not true. No one has given any orders that the Advocate cannot speak; that is his choice if he speaks or not. To use the word muzzle and to put those motives on a Member of the House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker, is offensive.

[…]

MR. SPEAKER: Often there are phrases used and there are words used here that members refer to as being unparliamentary, and in some cases they are unparliamentary. It depends on the tone being used, and it depends on the debate that is taking place and the body action of the person who is talking at that particular time as well.

I say to members opposite, it is not the point of the word muzzling being unparliamentary or parliamentary; it is the point of being cognizant and being sensitive to the language that we use here in this House. It is done by both sides of the House and by many members quite often.

I say to members, be a little bit sensitive to the terminology you use, the words you use, because to you or to me it may not be offensive but to others it might.

So I am not going to say whether it is parliamentary or unparliamentary because I do not know if it is either, but certainly members should be guided and be sensitive to some of the words that they use here in this House that might be unparliamentary or unacceptable to other members.

It all brings to mind one of the more decorous uses of the M-word from a few years back:

MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What did the late Herb Dhaliwal do for this Province? Gave away 1,500 off to Prince Edward Island. What about Brian Tobin? What did Brian Tobin do? At the end of the day we ended up giving more fish to the Spaniards.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WILLIAMS: What about George Baker who got muzzled after they bought him off? What happened to him?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. WILLIAMS: Lets not get into politics here, baby, or I tell you, we will go all the way with it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member is on a supplementary, I ask him to get to his question.

MR. WILLIAMS: Do you know what we should do, Mr. Speaker? Maybe we should strap some softwood lumber to the backs of these fish, and then we would get some attention.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member is on a supplementary, I ask him to get to his question.

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. WILLIAMS: I thought you would like those, Eddie.

MR. Speaker, the livelihood -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. WILLIAMS: A very serious matter. A very, very serious matter.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. member now to get to his question.

MR. WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, the livelihood of tens of thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians -

MR. BARRETT: (Inaudible).

MR. WILLIAMS: It is a very serious matter, Percy. I mean, the Minister of Transportation. I wouldn’t mind if he would just listen while I ask my question.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, the livelihood of tens of thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and indeed their families, their communities, and their homes are in jeopardy, because of Canada’s reluctance and because of this government’s reluctance to protect our important fish stocks from foreign overfishing.

My question is quite simple, Mr. Speaker. Let me ask the Minister of Fisheries: What is he going to do about it? When are you going to show some outrage? When is he going to show some concern? When is he going to show some interest? Or is he just like the Premier, he just simply isn’t interested when it comes to fish?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.