HON. CHRISTOPHER D'ENTREMONT: I stand tonight on a point of privilege, Mr. Speaker. I regret to say that this government willingly impeded my ability to do my parliamentary duty. In this government's race to deny democracy and railroad Bill No. 75 back into this House, they denied my right to hear at least 75 per cent of those who sought to appear before the Standing Committee on Law Amendments.

MR. TIM HOUSTON: Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of privilege.

Last night during late debate, towards the end, the member for Halifax Atlantic made some derogatory statements about me. It is part of an escalating theme wherein the last session he made some gestures to me, some obscene gestures. Last night he made clearly some derogatory statements to me. He questioned my integrity and he questioned my honour. He questioned my motives as a member of this House.

HON LLOYD HINES: Thank you, Sheila, for all you do, and it is people like you who make Nova Scotia the wonderful place that it is.

MR. SPEAKER: I'd like to remind all members not to use members' statements to speak directly to constituents, but to direct your thank-yous through the Chair.

MARIAN MANCINI: ... He goes on to say, "The McNeil Liberals did not invent the current problems . . ."

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please. I would like to remind the honourable member not to use the surname of members of the House even when quoting from documents. Please refer to the Premier as "the Premier."

HON. JAMIE BAILLIE: Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. During Question Period today the Premier said that the member for Pictou West voted against a government motion to split Law Amendments Committee. As you know, that is not correct, no such motion was properly put before this House; it does not exist and therefore, the Premier misspoke.

Mr. Speaker, I would like you to order that that remark be stricken from the record, in light of the fact that the Premier has not been around much for this debate and probably didn't know what really happened.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please. Order, please. The word "despicable" was ruled on December 15, 2011, as unparliamentary language, so if you could rephrase that sentence, I would appreciate it.

The honourable member for Pictou East has the floor.

MR. HOUSTON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I retract the word "despicable."

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please.

Before we commence with our daily routine today, I do want to take this opportunity to remind our visitors in the gallery that you are not permitted to record or photograph anything in this Chamber. Use of cellphones and other smart personal devices is permitted for purposes of texting only. There is to be no placing or receiving of calls from the gallery.

MR. HOUSTON: Thank you, and I apologize, Mr. Speaker. She wrote an email to a constituent saying the member for Pictou East makes fun of kids with learning disabilities. That is quite a mean-spirited thing for somebody to say.

MR. SPEAKER: Order. I've also been advised by the Clerk that the use of the word "mean-spirited" has been deemed unparliamentary in Ottawa. I believe the Speaker possibly made a ruling last week on it. We are looking through Hansard right now, but I would ask the members to refrain from that, please, for the time. Thank you.

HON. CHRISTOPHER D'ENTREMONT: Mr. Speaker, during question period, while the member for Pictou West was quoting something from the Auditor General, the minister said that she was slandering another member of the House. I was wondering if he could withdraw that from his statement.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please. I'll take the point of order under advisement and come back.

HON. JAMIE BAILLIE: Mr. Speaker, earlier today I submitted a request pursuant to Rule 43(2) that the business of the House be set aside for a purpose of urgent public importance, namely the fairness and legitimacy of the province's electoral boundaries.

The legitimacy of the boundaries was brought into question when the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled that the former Attorney General's intervention in the boundary process violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.