Failure to table Order in Council appointments in the House following their publication in theCanada Gazette; Members prevented from carrying out parliamentary duties

The Speaker: I thank both the Government House Leader and the Rt. Hon. Member for Calgary Centre for their submissions on this point. The Rt. Hon. Member for Calgary Centre yesterday raised this point of order, and I will again quote to the House Standing Order 110(1): A Minister of the Crown shall lay upon the Table a certified copy of an Order in Council, stating that a certain individual has been appointed to a certain non-judicial post, not later than five sitting days after the Order in Council is published in the Canada Gazette. The same shall be deemed to have been referred to a standing committee specified at the time of tabling, pursuant to Standing Order 32(6), for its consideration during a period not exceeding 30 sitting days. Now the Rt. Hon. Member for Calgary Centre has pointed out that in fact these Order in Council appointments have been tabled late. The Government House Leader indicated that this was an accident and that the problem has now been corrected. What I am prepared to do, and I think is reasonable in the circumstances based on the submissions of the Rt. Hon. Member, is order that the 30 sitting days will start today, from the date of the tabling, not from the date they should have been tabled, if that argument should arise. Accordingly, there are now 30 sitting days for the committees involved in the appointments that have been tabled today by the Government House Leader to study the matter as they would have been able to do had they been tabled on time. I quite agree with the Rt. hon. gentleman that this was a breach of our Standing Orders. He indicated that yesterday, and I agree with him. In the circumstances, he I think is inclined, as I am, to accept the apology of the Government House Leader. We can now move on to the review of these appointments in committee for the period provided under the rules of the House. I believe that this matter is now closed. If there are problems with the committee review, I am sure the Rt. Hon. Member for Calgary Centre will let me know. Postscript At the beginning of Routine Proceedings that day, the Government House Leader tabled the Order in Council appointments. [3]. [1] Debates, March 8, 2004, pp. 1216-8. [2] Debates, March 9, 2004, p. 1259. [3] Journals, March 9, 2004, pp. 151-3.