The Daily Program

Statements by Members

On each sitting day, as part of the daily order of business, the Standing Orders provide for “Statements by Members”. During this period, the duration of which is no longer than 15 minutes, Members recognized by the Chair may address the House for up to one minute on virtually any matter of international, national, provincial or local interest of their choice. At the beginning of Speaker Fraser’s term, Members’ Statements were governed by Standing Order 21. Following the renumbering of the Standing Orders in 1988, the relevant Standing Order number became 31.

Speakers have been guided by a number of well-established prohibitions when applying the Standing Order. For instance, Members may not use these statements as the vehicle for a personal attack, to offer congratulations, to read poetry, or for frivolous matters. Speakers have intervened when Members criticized a decision by the courts, used offensive language, or attacked the Senate or one of its members. In many cases, when ruling, the Chair would refer to guidelines first established by Speaker Jeanne Sauvé in January 1983.

The Speaker is authorized by the applicable Standing Order to interrupt and order a Member to resume his or her seat if, in the Speaker’s opinion, improper use is made of this Standing Order. On a number of occasions, Speaker Fraser emphasized the difficulties inherent in this responsibility. In particular, he pointed out that because the statements are so short and follow one another so rapidly, it is often difficult to determine the direction a Member is going to take and thus the acceptability or otherwise of the remarks.

This section of the chapter comprises five key rulings made during Speaker Fraser’s term which illustrate the issues faced by the Chair and the speed with which the decisions had to be delivered.