Madam Speaker: I have a ruling for the House.
I took under advisement, in order to review the specifics in Hansard, a point of order on April 16, 1998, during Question Period.
The point of order raised, by the honourable member for Burrows (Mr. Martindale), concerned an answer given by the honourable First Minister (Mr. Filmon) to a question asked by the honourable member for Osborne (Ms. McGifford). The point of order raised by the deputy House leader for the official opposition was that the First Minister was not responding to the matter raised and was provoking debate. Having reviewed the Hansard transcript, I would concur that there was a point of order. The First Minister should have, in responding to the question, complied with Citation 417 of Beauchesne. He should have responded to the matter raised and should not have provoked debate.