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November 2, 1989
Mr. Speaker: Before I call orders of the day, I have an important point of order to respond to raised by the honourable Member for New Westminster—Burnaby on October 20 and again on October 26....
The Speaker defines the test for when Private Members' Bills are 'substantially the same' under Standing Order 86(5), ruling that bills with the same purpose but different means are distinct.
October 10, 1989
The Speaker: I am now ready to rule on the question of privilege which was raised on September 25 by the right honourable Leader of the Opposition concerning the government advertisements which...
The Speaker ruled that a government advertisement for the GST was not a prima facie contempt of Parliament but strongly warned against repeating such actions.
May 18, 1989
The Speaker: This is not the first time that this matter has been brought to the attention of the Chair. I said some time ago that whatever the rule may be—and I will refer to the rule in a...
The Speaker ruled that the Chair lacks the authority to enforce the 45-day response time for written questions as it is a 'request' under the Standing Orders, not a mandatory requirement.
December 21, 1988
The Chair of Committees of the Whole: I am now ready to rule on the point of order raised by a number of Members. In the point of order raised earlier today, the honourable Member for Kingston and...
The Chair ruled that a closure motion in Committee of the Whole can apply to clauses of a bill that have not yet been debated, based on historical precedents.
August 16, 1988
The Speaker: Yesterday the honourable Minister of State (Treasury Board) gave oral notice of a motion for time allocation for the report stage and third reading stage of Bill C-130 the...
The Speaker ruled that a government notice for time allocation is valid even without specifying the time, and an agreement between opposition parties alone cannot block it.
August 15, 1988
The Speaker: Before trespassing into the difficult ground of this ruling of amendments, I am informed, and I hope that this is so, that copies of my ruling, in both official languages, have been...
The Speaker ruled on the admissibility of 102 amendments to the free trade implementation bill, disallowing those that altered the treaty, exceeded the bill's scope, or had financial implications.
July 18, 1988
The Speaker: I want to bring to honourable Members' attention a matter of some importance which was raised on Wednesday, May 4, 1988, by the honourable Member for Athabasca, and commented upon by...
A Speaker's ruling denies a question of privilege, clarifying that absolute parliamentary privilege for freedom of speech does not extend to a Member's statements published outside the House.
July 13, 1988
The Speaker: Honourable Members will know that I heard an important argument two days ago with respect to the use of motions of instruction relating to bills. I undertook to honourable Members to...
The Speaker ruled that a private member's permissive motion of instruction to a committee studying a bill is admissible under 'Motions' during Routine Proceedings.
February 9, 1988
The Speaker: On January 28, 1988, the honourable Member for Thunder Bay—Atikokan claimed that the rights of three Members of Parliament had been breached in relation to the privacy of their...
A Speaker's ruling establishes that Members' electronic data has the same expectation of privacy as physical documents and requires staff to obtain prior authorization before making changes.
January 28, 1988
The Speaker: I am now ready to rule on the question of privilege raised by the honourable member for Okanagan—Coquihalla on October 21, 1999, concerning delays in the release of information under...
The Speaker ruled that delays in responding to an Access to Information request do not constitute a breach of privilege as this activity is not considered a 'proceeding in Parliament'.