Madam Speaker: I have a ruling for the House.

I took under advisement on September 26, 1996, a point of order raised by the honourable Minister of Education (Mrs. McIntosh) about implications flowing from words used by the honourable member for Thompson (Mr. Ashton).

In reviewing Hansard, I find that the words spoken by the member for Thompson which I believe precipitated the point of order were: "We have seen the Minister of Health (Mr. McCrae) and the Minister of Education talk about comments in this House about bombs and their caricatures of labour relations in this province." In speaking to the point of order, the Minister of Education stated that the member for Thompson "tries to take an incident that has no connection with our current labour relations and draw a parallel."

I realize, because the Minister of Education has already told the House of an incident involving her family, that this is a difficult issue for her. However, I must draw to the attention of the minister and the House Beauchesne Citation 317(1), which states that a point of order is a question raised with the view of calling attention to any departure from the standing orders or the customary modes of proceedings in debate or in the conduct of the legislative business.

The minister, therefore, did not have a point of order. It was a dispute as to allegations of facts.