Ruling
April 6, 1971
Tabling of documents
Hon. Lucien Lamoureux
Speaker of the House
Ruling Text
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 allowed to quote or read from an official document in debate unless he is willing to table it. "This rule has never been otherwise interpreted by Speakers and has never been deemed by the House to be applicable to reference in debate to a document, official or otherwise, by a Member." The fact that a Member referred to an official document neither imposes an obligation to table it nor gives him or her the right to do so.
Edit Metadata
Holding
"Only Ministers of the Crown or Parliamentary Secretaries acting on their behalf are permitted to table documents; regular Members do not have this right."
AI Summary
The Speaker clarifies that only Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, not regular Members, are permitted to table documents in the House.
AI Analysis
- Outcome
- Other
- Tone
- Educational
- Procedural Stage
- Not specified
- Significance
Low
High