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April 6, 1971
The Standing Orders are explicit on this issue: only Ministers of the Crown or Parliamentary Secretaries acting on their behalf are permitted to table documents. A Minister of the Crown is not...
The Speaker clarifies that only Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, not regular Members, are permitted to table documents in the House.
March 31, 1971
The statement of a Member in requesting an emergency debate should not go beyond the notice given to the Chair. Nonetheless, because the issue raised is so important, it should not be judged...
The Speaker denied a request for an emergency debate, ruling that while the topic was important, the timing was not appropriate.
March 26, 1971
The duration of a committee sitting is to be determined by a majority of the members then present. While the Speaker is responsible for the officers and clerks of the House, their hours of...
The Speaker denied a member's complaint about long committee sittings, ruling that committees control their own schedules and the proper remedy is to amend the Standing Orders.
March 25, 1971
"... to a certain extent the form of the statement submitted to the Chair and the presentation of his motion to the House are out of order." By practice, Members should keep to a general statement...
The Speaker denied a request for an emergency debate, ruling that criticism of a Minister's conduct is a substantive matter requiring a separate censure motion.
March 22, 1971
"Even if a Member feels very strongly about a matter... he has no right to violate the rules of the House, which command Members not to accuse another Member of the House of deliberately deceiving...
A ruling affirming that accusing another Member of deliberate deception constitutes unparliamentary language and will require a withdrawal or apology.
March 16, 1971
The proposed amendment does more than qualify or amend the main motion; it seeks to provide a basis for an entirely different debate. Furthermore, when the opposition parties agree on the choice...
The Speaker ruled an amendment to an opposition day motion out of order because it introduced a new topic beyond the scope of the original motion.
March 10, 1971
Previous rules allowed unlimited consideration of the Supplementary Estimates. Present rules restrict such consideration to a degree substantial enough to warrant the exclusion of items of a...
The Speaker rules that legislative changes cannot be made through the Supplementary Estimates and require a separate amending bill.
February 24, 1971
The House should not be put in a position where contrary decisions could be taken in respect of two similar bills in the same session. In this case, as no final decision had been taken on any...
Speaker rules it is procedurally acceptable to have two similar bills before the House simultaneously if no final decision has been made on their clauses.
February 22, 1971
Reviewing the practice of the House since 1952, the Chair has had "little difficulty in establishing that Committees of the Whole and standing committees have in fact sat concurrently throughout...
The Speaker confirms the long-standing practice, supported by the Standing Orders, that standing committees and Committees of the Whole are permitted to sit concurrently.
February 18, 1971
Since it was not raised during the Budget debate, it would now be appropriate to permit an emergency debate on the issue. However, there is some objection to the content of the proposal because it...
The Speaker permits an emergency debate on a possible sale but requires the motion to be reworded to focus on the sale itself, not on a minister's statement.