Question of Privilege
October 9, 2003
Third reading: Member requesting a reprint of a bill
Hon. Peter Milliken
Speaker of the House
Ruling Text
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair):
I will now give the ruling on the question of privilege raised by the hon. Member for Mississauga South on October 6. I thank the hon. Member for raising the question, as well as the hon. Member for Yellowhead for his comments.
The hon. Member for Mississauga South argued that, in light of the complexity of the Bill and of the number of amendments which the House had adopted at report stage, Members required a reprint of the Bill in order to be able to properly conduct debate at third reading. He pointed out that this need was all the more pressing given that the Bill had not been debated since April 10 of this year.
The unanimous consent of the House was sought on March 31 and again on October 3 to permit a motion ordering a reprint of the Bill to be put to a vote. The consent was denied.
I would like to remind the hon. Member that it is not the practice of the House to have bills reprinted at third reading. In this regard I refer him to the ruling by the Deputy Speaker on the same point concerning Bill C-13 on March 31, at page 4922 of the Debates.
As the hon. Member is fully aware, the House may, if it chooses, order a reprint of the Bill. The unanimous consent necessary to allow such a motion to be put without notice has so far not been forthcoming..
[1]
Debates, October 6, 2003, pp. 8186-87.
[2]
Debates, March 31, 2003, p. 4920.
[3]
Debates, October 3, 2003, p. 8141.
Edit Metadata
Holding
"The Chair cannot order a reprint of a bill at third reading stage, as this is not standard practice and requires a motion passed with unanimous consent, which was not granted."
AI Summary
The Speaker denied a question of privilege requesting a reprint of a bill for third reading, affirming it is not standard practice and requires unanimous consent.
AI Analysis
- Outcome
- Denied
- Tone
- Educational
- Procedural Stage
- Third Reading
- Significance
Low
High