I do not think I need to hear more on this point. The hon. member for St. John's West has raised a point suggesting that because the Prime Minister made a statement outside the House rather than in the chamber, it somehow constitutes a contempt.
The hon. member for St. John's West must know from his own experience that he is unlikely to sway the Chair on this point, because on March 18 last year I gave a ruling on a similar point raised by him when he suggested that a statement by the then prime minister made outside the House appeared to contradict the budget statements made by the Minister of Finance in the House. I indicated that statements made outside the House were not the responsibility of the Chair.
I quoted for him at that time, and I will quote again for the House today, Marleau and Montpetit, at page 379:
A Minister is under no obligation to make a statement in the House. The decision of a Minister to make an announcement outside of the House instead of making a statement in the House during Routine Proceedings has been raised as a question of privilege, but the Chair has consistently found there to be no grounds to support a claim that any privilege has been breached.
The hon. member St. John's West heard it then and he is hearing it again today, so I am afraid he does not have a question of privilege. He may have a legitimate ground for complaint and argument concerning the document he referred to in his question of privilege that was tabled the other day, but I note that the document has not been adopted as policy by the House. There has been no change in the Standing Orders and no change in the requirement that is before the Speaker that obliges a minister or the Prime Minister as a minister to make any statement in the House.
Accordingly, I can find that there is no question of privilege despite the unique argument that he has of course brought forward, similar to the one he advanced in March 2003 on which I previously ruled. I know he agreed with the Speaker's ruling then, so I assume he does today.