Ruling
June 4, 1970
Recommittal; infringing on financial initiative of the Crown
Hon. Lucien Lamoureux
Speaker of the House
Ruling Text
It is a long-standing practice that an amendment on third reading has to be particularly relevant to the motion for third reading of the bill before the House and cannot deal with any matter not contained in the bill. The amendment proposes that "if there is any additional expenditure, the Committee would request a further recommendation by His Excellency the Governor General". The Members may not in this way do indirectly what they may not do directly. The financial initiative belongs to the Crown and not to a committee or to a Member. If the bill included the proposed amendment and became a law, this would make a rather unusual kind of legislative proposal, as it would be left to the Government to accept or reject the recommendation of the committee.
Edit Metadata
Holding
"An amendment is out of order if it attempts to empower a committee to request additional public expenditure, as this infringes upon the financial initiative which belongs exclusively to the Crown."
AI Summary
The Speaker ruled an amendment inadmissible at third reading because it infringed on the financial initiative of the Crown by allowing a committee to request new expenditures.
AI Analysis
- Outcome
- Sustained
- Tone
- Educational
- Procedural Stage
- Third Reading
- Significance
Low
High