Amendments to the Content of Bills / Report Stage

Motion in amendment, beyond scope of bill

Journals pp. 1254-5

Debates pp. 7154-5

Background

During consideration at the report stage of Bill C-38, an Act to amend the Fisheries Act and to amend the Criminal Code in consequence, the Speaker expressed reservations as to the acceptability of a motion in amendment entered on the Order Paper. Motion No. 1 sought to modify the terms of Sections 10 and 11 of the Fisheries Act, although only slightly, by granting certain powers to fisheries officers and by amending the definition of the seal hunt. However, the bill then under consideration (C-38) did not in any way deal with these sections. The Speaker stated that at first reading the motion appeared to go beyond the scope of the bill. For its part, the government announced its approval of the motion and its readiness to ask that the House consent to the introduction of the motion.

Issue

Can a motion in amendment change two sections of a parent Act not mentioned in the amending bill?

Decision

The motion is unacceptable, but the Chair will allow it to be proposed.

Reasons given by the Speaker

The amendment motion is unacceptable because it attempts to amend two sections of an Act which are not mentioned in the bill to which the motion is directed, and thus it goes beyond the scope of the bill in question.

Given the special circumstances, however, namely that the goal of the bill is to amend the Fisheries Act, that the effect of the proposed amendments on Sections 10 and 11 of the Fisheries Act is minor, and that the House consented unanimously to the introduction of the motion, the Speaker allowed the amendment to be proposed.

References

Debates, June 28, 1977, pp. 7148-50.