Content of Bills / Clause Not Related to Supply Bill

Clause not related to supply bill

Journals p. 924

Debates p. 9883

Background

When Mr. Chretien (President of the Treasury Board) proposed the second reading of Bill C-79 dealing with supplementary supply, Mr. Lambert (Edmonton West) rose on a point of order to object to the inclusion of a borrowing authority clause in the bill. Mr. Stanfield (Halifax) supported the point of order because, as he claimed, no debate is allowed on this type of supply bill. Though the estimate on which this supply bill was based had been debated in committee, this clause had not appeared in the estimates and consequently had not been considered.

Issue

Is it permissible to include a borrowing authority clause in a supplementary supply bill?

Decision

The clause is out of order and must be struck from the bill.

Reasons given by the Speaker

Since a supply bill is concurred in without debate and without amendment, the strictest interpretation of the rules has to be applied to all clauses of the bill, that is to say, that all clauses of the bill must be based on estimates if the guillotine is to apply.

Borrowing authority clauses have been presented in the past only in relation to main estimates or to interim supply, not to supplementary estimates. There is an historical ground and a justification for the former and absolutely no justification for the latter.

References

Debates, December 9, 1975, pp. 9880-2.