Ruling
March 31, 1969
Committee report;sub judice
Hon. Lucien Lamoureux
Speaker of the House
Ruling Text
The established form of a committee recommendation dealing with legislative proposals is that the Government take into consideration the advisability of introducing legislation for a specified purpose. While the wording of this report departs from the established practice, there is "some doubt as to the advisability of referring the report back to the committee for the sole purpose of effecting a purely formal modification". Members are cautioned, however, "that committee reports should be drafted according to procedurally acceptable forms" until such time as the House decides to change this practice. No serious argument was presented on the issue of the committee's order of reference. "... indeed the President of the Privy Council said that he was not putting forth a view in this regard, and so [the Chair] will not consider that aspect of the matter in any way." Arguments based on the Railway Act and on decisions of the Canadian Transportation Commission should not be reviewed by the Speaker. "The Chair... should not be invited to go into the constitutional aspects, the jurisdictional aspects of a statute or of a clause of a statute which has been considered by a committee... [T]hese matters may be adjudged by the House itself and the way to proceed is by means of a motion."
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Holding
"The Chair will not rule on the substantive, constitutional, or jurisdictional aspects of a committee report, as those are matters for the House to decide via a motion; minor formal defects in a report may be overlooked to avoid sending it back to committee."
AI Summary
A Speaker's ruling clarifies that minor formal errors in a committee report may be overlooked, while substantive and constitutional arguments are matters for the House to decide, not the Chair.
AI Analysis
- Outcome
- Other
- Tone
- Educational
- Procedural Stage
- Routine Proceedings
- Significance
Low
High