I think I have heard enough on the point to deal with any inconsistencies that the House might think have arisen in my rulings.
First, there are two statements in citation 489 of Beauchesne's to which the right hon. member for Calgary Centre referred, and one was “fabricated a statement” which was ruled unparliamentary, and his expression was “fabricated the facts”. I equate the two. Then there was the word “fabrication”, which has been ruled unparliamentary but has also not been ruled unparliamentary on various occasions depending on the context in which it is used.
The right hon. member was quite correct in pointing out that I had ruled that it was not unparliamentary when the word “fabrication” was used on its own by the Minister of Health in her answer some weeks ago.
However, in this particular case, the right hon. member had just finished telling the House that someone was not telling the truth and withdrew the words and promptly said that it was a fabrication of the facts. In the circumstances, I could not help but feel the expressions were the same in their intent and in their meaning.
When I looked at the words “fabricated a statement” and ruled it unparliamentary and then heard “fabricated the facts”, I concluded that the two had the same meaning and decided that they had traversed the line, as it were, and in the circumstances were unparliamentary.
I hope that has satisfied the right hon. member as to any possible inconsistency in the rulings on these occasions. I do appreciate his good humour in bringing the matter to my attention because I would not want to be glaringly inconsistent in rulings that I make in the House. I know the right hon. member appreciates that fact.