Search thousands of Speaker's rulings with AI-powered precision.
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.
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.
January 26, 1971
The amendment as presented "is largely a deviation... from the old-established form of amendment which provides that the subject-matter of a bill or a motion before the House be referred to a...
The Speaker ruled an amendment inadmissible as it improperly deviated from the standard form for referring a bill's subject matter to a committee.
January 12, 1971
Committee proceedings are the responsibility of the members of the committee and it is irregular to refer to such proceedings or to the evidence taken in a committee until a report is before the...
The Speaker affirmed that committees are autonomous in their proceedings, including witness selection, and that such internal matters must be resolved by the committee itself, not the House.
March 24, 1970
"No principle is more surely provided for by our constitution and our Standing Orders than that which provides that the Crown alone initiates financial proposals... It is not competent... for the...
A ruling affirming the constitutional principle that only the Crown can initiate financial proposals, thereby preventing committees from substituting financial provisions in estimates.
February 17, 1970
The objection raised by the Member deals with the content of the report, which cannot be commented on when the report is presented. This can be done only on a motion in reference to the report....
A ruling clarifying that objections to a committee report's content are only permissible during the debate on a concurrence motion, not during the report's initial presentation.
July 7, 1969
The rule of anticipation becomes operative only when one of two similar motions on the Order Paper is actually proceeded with. If the motion respecting the committee report had been moved, it...
The Speaker ruled that a Minister's motion could proceed because the rule of anticipation only applies if a similar, preceding motion on the Order Paper has actually been moved.
May 10, 1966
"... this would be a very unusual, indeed unique, practice", since the Standing Orders provide that all private bills be automatically referred to certain committees. The Standing Orders are being...
The Speaker clarifies that referring a private bill to the Committee of the Whole is a unique practice requiring the suspension of Standing Orders.