APPENDIX A

 

LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

 

______________________________________

 

 

1.      The Committee recommends that Standing Orders be amended by the addition of Standing Order 3.1 as follows:

 

3.1 Before proceeding with the election of a Speaker pursuant to Standing Order 4, the Member presiding shall call upon any candidate for the office of Speaker to address the House for not more than five minutes; when no further candidate rises to speak, the Member presiding shall leave the Chair for one hour after which Members shall proceed to the election of a Speaker.

 

 

2.       The Committee recommends that the Government make greater use of Ministerial Statements in the Chamber whenever possible and that the House Leaders be advised in advance of these statements.

 

 

3.      The Committee recommends that Standing Order 30(3) be amended as follows:

 

30. (3) At 3:00 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at 12:00 noon on Fridays, the House shall proceed to the ordinary daily routine of business, which shall be as follows:

 

Tabling of Documents (pursuant to Standing Orders 32 or 109)

Introduction of Government Bills

Statements by Ministers (pursuant to Standing Order 33)

Presenting Reports from Inter-parliamentary Delegations (pursuant to Standing Order 34)

Presenting Reports from Committees (pursuant to Standing Order 35)

Introduction of Private Members' Bills

First Reading of Senate Public Bills

Motions

Presenting Petitions (pursuant to Standing Order 36(6))

Questions on Order Paper.

4.       The Committee recommends that the Speaker, after consultation with the House Leaders, table in the House simplified requirements for petitions, including the prayer for relief.

 

 

5.      The Committee recommends that Standing Order 39(5)(b) be amended as follows:

 

39. (5)(b) If such a question remains unanswered at the expiration of the said period of forty-five days, the matter of the failure of the Ministry to respond shall be deemed referred to the appropriate Standing Committee. Within five sitting days of such a referral the Chair of the committee shall convene a meeting of the committee to consider the matter of the failure of the Ministry to respond. The question shall be designated as referred to committee on the Order Paper and, not withstanding Standing Order 39(4), the Member may submit one further question for each question so designated. The Member who put the question may rise in the House under “Questions on the Order Paper” and give notice that he or she intends to transfer the question and raise the subject-matter thereof on the adjournment of the House, and the order referring the matter to committee is thereby discharged.

 

 

6.       The Committee recommends that Standing Orders 17 and 38(5) be amended as follows:

 

17. Every Member desiring to speak is to rise in his or her place, except during proceedings pursuant to Standing Orders 38(5), 52 and 53.1, and address the Speaker.

 

38. (5) The Member raising the matter may speak for not more than four minutes. A Minister of the Crown, or a Parliamentary Secretary replying on behalf of a Minister, if he or she wishes to do so, may speak for not more than four minutes. Following the speech by the Minister or the Parliamentary Secretary, the Member may reply for a period of not more than one minute and the Minister or the Parliamentary Secretary may respond to the reply for not more than one minute.

 

 

7.       The Committee recommends that Standing Orders be amended by the addition of Standing Order 45(7.1) as follows:

 

45. (7.1) Whenever, pursuant to a standing or special order, a recorded division is deferred to the conclusion of oral questions, a period of time equal to that used for the taking of the deferred division shall be added to the time provided for Government Orders on that day. Private Members' Business, where applicable, and the ordinary time of daily adjournment shall be delayed accordingly, notwithstanding Standing Orders 24, 30 and 38 or any Order made pursuant to Standing Order 27.

 

 

8.       The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended by the addition of Standing Order 67.1 as follows:

 

67.1.(a)(i) When a motion has been proposed pursuant to Standing Order 57 or 78(3), there shall be a period of not more than 30 minutes during which time members may put brief questions to the Minister responsible for the item which has been subject to the motion pursuant to Standing Order 57 or 78(3), or to the appropriate Secretary of State or Minister acting on behalf of the Minister sponsoring the item, and the said Secretary of State or Minister may make a corresponding reply.

 

(ii) At the conclusion of the period provided pursuant to paragraph (i) of this Standing Order, the Speaker shall put the question on the motion moved pursuant to Standing Order 57 or 78(3), as the case may be.

 

(b) If a motion pursuant to this section regarding any bill is moved and carried at the beginning of Government Orders on any day and if the order for the said bill is then called and debated for the remainder of the sitting day, the length of that debate shall be deemed to be one sitting day provided that a period of time equal to the time taken for the proceedings pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section shall be added to the time provided for government business in the afternoon of the day on which the said proceedings took place. Private Members’ Business, where applicable, and the ordinary time of daily adjournment shall be delayed accordingly, not withstanding Standing Orders 24, 30 and 38 or any Order made pursuant to Standing Order 27.

 

 

9.       The Committee recommends that Standing Order 57 be amended as follows:

 

57. Immediately before the Order of the Day for resuming an adjourned debate is called, or if the House be in Committee of the Whole, any Minister of the Crown who, standing in his or her place, shall have given notice at a previous sitting of his or her intention so to do, may move that the debate shall not be further adjourned, or that the further consideration of any resolution or resolutions, clause or clauses, section or sections, preamble or preambles, title or titles, shall be the first business of the Committee, and shall not further be postponed; and in either case such question shall be decided without debate or amendment; and if the same shall be resolved in the affirmative, no Member shall thereafter speak more than once, or longer than twenty minutes in any such adjourned debate; or, if in Committee, on any such resolution, clause, section, preamble or title; and if such adjourned debate or postponed consideration shall not have been resumed or concluded before 8:00 p.m., no Member shall rise to speak after that hour, but all such questions as must be decided in order to conclude such adjourned debate or postponed consideration, shall be decided forthwith.

 

 

10.   The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended by the addition of a new Standing Order 53.1 as follows:

 

53.1(a) A Minister of the Crown, following consultation with the House Leaders of the other parties, may propose a motion at any time, to be decided without debate or amendment, setting out the subject-matter and designating a day on which a take-note debate shall take place, provided that the motion may not be proposed less than forty-eight hours before the said debate is to begin.

 

(b) A take-note debate ordered by the House pursuant to section (a) of this Standing Order shall begin at 6:30 p.m., or, on a Friday, at 2:30 p.m., and any proceedings pursuant to Standing Order 38 shall be suspended on that day.

 

(c) The rules to apply to a debate under the present Standing Order shall be those applied during a Committee of the Whole except that:

 

                                 i.            the Speaker may preside;

                              ii.            no Member may speak for longer than ten minutes and each speech may be followed by a period of not more than ten minutes for questions and comments;

                            iii.            the Speaker shall not accept any motions except a motion “That the Committee do now rise”;

                             iv.            when no Member rises to speak or after four hours of debate, whichever is earlier, the Committee shall rise; and

                               v.            when the Committee rises, the House shall immediately adjourn to the next sitting day.

 

 

11.The Committee recommends the following amendments to the Standing Orders:

 

52. (10) Notwithstanding any Standing or Special Order, when a request to make such a motion has been made on any day, except Friday, and the Speaker directs that it be considered the same day, the motion shall be taken up at 6:30 p.m.

 

52. (13) No Member shall speak for longer than twenty minutes during debate on any such motion, provided that a Member may indicate to the Speaker that he or she will be dividing his or her time with another Member of his or her party.

 

 

12.The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended by the addition of a new Standing Order 56.2 as follows:

 

56.2.(1)  In relation to any routine motion concerning the power of committees to adjourn from place to place placed on notice by a Minister of the Crown, the question on the motion shall be put forthwith at the expiry of the notice period, without debate or amendment, during Routine Proceedings.

 

(2) When the Speaker puts the question on such a motion, he or she shall ask those who object to rise in their places. If ten or more Members then rise, the motion shall be deemed to have been withdrawn; otherwise, the motion shall have been adopted.

 

 

13.We recommend that the Standing Orders be amended as follows:

 

81(4)  In every session the main estimates to cover the incoming fiscal year for every department of government shall be deemed referred to standing committees on or before March 1 of the then expiring fiscal year. Each such committee shall consider and shall report, or shall be deemed to have reported, the same back to the House not later than May 31 in the then current fiscal year, provided that

 

(a) not later than May 1, the Leader of the Opposition, in consultation with the leaders of the other Opposition parties, may give notice during the time specified in Standing Order 54 of a motion to refer consideration of the main estimates of no more than two named departments or agencies to committees of the whole, and the said motion shall be deemed adopted and the said estimates shall be deemed withdrawn from the standing committee to which they were referred. Notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Orders 28(2) or 38(5), on any day appointed for the consideration of any business under the provisions of this section, but in any case not later than May 31, consideration of the main estimates of the said department of agency shall be taken up by a Committee of the Whole House at the conclusion of the adjournment proceedings or, if taken up on a Friday, at the conclusion of Private Members’ Business, for a period of time not exceeding five hours. At the conclusion of the time provided for the consideration of the business pursuant to this section, the Committee shall rise, the estimates shall be deemed reported and the House shall immediately adjourn to the next sitting day;

 

(b) not later than the third sitting day prior to May 31, the Leader of the Opposition may give notice during the time specified in Standing Order 54 of a motion to extend consideration of the main estimates of a named department or agency and the said motion shall be deemed adopted when called on "Motions" on the last sitting day prior to May 31;

 

(c) on the sitting day immediately preceding the final allotted day, but in any case not later than ten sitting days following the day on which any motion made pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section is adopted, at not later than the ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the said committee shall report, or shall be deemed to have reported, the main estimates for the said department or agency; and

 

(d) if the committee shall make a report, the Chairman or a member of the committee acting for the Chairman may so indicate, on a point of order, prior to the hours indicated in paragraph (c) of this section, and the House shall immediately revert to "Presenting Reports from Committees" for the purpose of receiving the said report.

 

(5) Supplementary estimates shall be deemed referred to a standing committee or committees immediately they are presented in the House. Each such committee shall consider and shall report, or shall be deemed to have reported, the same back to the House not later than three sitting days before the final sitting or the last allotted day in the current period.

 

(6) [Deleted]

 

35. (1) Reports to the House from committees may be made by Members standing in their places, at the time provided pursuant to Standing Order 30(3) or 81(4)(d), provided that the Member may be permitted to give a succinct explanation of the subject-matter of the report.

 

 

14.   The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended as follows:

 

81. (14) (a) Written notice of an opposition motion on an allotted day shall be filed with the Journals Branch not later than one hour prior to the opening of the sitting on the day preceding the allotted day, and the Speaker shall read the text of the motion at the opening of that sitting and shall indicate whether the motion is one that shall come to a vote pursuant to section (16) of this Standing Order.

 

81. (14)(b))  Forty-eight hours' written notice shall be given of motions to concur in interim supply, main estimates, supplementary or final estimates, to restore or reinstate any item in the estimates. Twenty-four hours' written notice shall be given (REMOVE of an opposition motion on an allotted day or) of a notice to oppose any item in the estimates, provided that for the supply period ending not later than June 23, forty-eight hours' written notice shall be given of a notice to oppose any item in the estimates.

 

 

15.   The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended as follows:

 

85. Only one amendment and one sub-amendment may be made to a motion proposed in the Budget Debate or to a motion proposed under an Order of the Day for the consideration of the business of supply on an allotted day; an amendment to an opposition motion proposed under an order for the consideration of the business of supply on an allotted day may only be moved with the consent of the sponsor of the motion.

 

 

16.     The Committee recommends that the Clerk of the House of Commons be appointed following consultation with the representatives of the parties in the House of Commons, and that the appointment be subject to a ratification vote by the House.

 

 

17.   The Committee recommends that the Government, following consultation with the opposition parties, should table a motion to appoint an officer of Parliament, and the individual should appear before the appropriate committee of the House before the motion is voted on. The appointment should be made only following approval of the appointment by resolution of the Senate and House of Commons; provided that in the case of the Chief Electoral Officer and the Clerk of the House of Commons, only the approval of the House would be required. The Committee recommends that the relevant statutes be amended accordingly. (Pursuant to our order of reference, recommendations for changes to relevant statutes shall be deemed to have been made pursuant to an Order adopted pursuant to Standing Order 68(4).)

 

 

 

18.   The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended as follows:

 

111.1 (a) Where the Government intends to appoint an Officer of Parliament, the Clerk of the House or the Parliamentary Librarian, the name of the proposed appointee  shall be deemed referred to the appropriate standing committee which may consider the appointment during a period of not more than thirty days following the tabling of a motion concerning the proposed appointment.

 

(b) Not later than the expiry of the thirty-day period provided for in the present Standing Order, a notice of motion shall be put under Routine Proceedings, to be decided without debate or amendment, ratifying the appointment.

 

 

19.   The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended as follows:

 

108(1)(c) A committee to which the annual report of the Privacy Commissioner, the Access to Information Commissioner or the Ethics Counsellor with respect to his or her responsibilities under the Lobbyists Registration Act has been referred shall, at its next regularly scheduled meeting following the referral of such report to it, decide by motion whether or not the committee will hold hearings on the report and shall report the decision to the House.

 

108(3)  The mandate of the Standing Committee on:

 

(a) Procedure and House Affairs shall include, in addition to the duties set forth in Standing Order 104, and among other matters:

 

. . .

 

(v) the review of and report on the radio and television broadcasting of the proceedings of the House and its committees; (REMOVE and)

 

(vi) the review of and report on all matters relating to the election of Members to the House of Commons; and

 

(vii) where a committee to which the annual report of the Privacy Commissioner, the Access to Information Commissioner or the Ethics Counsellor with respect to his or her responsibilities under the Lobbyists Registration Act has been referred indicates, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(c), that it does not intend to consider the said report,  that annual report shall be withdrawn from the standing committee and be deemed referred to the Committee for a period of thirty sitting days following the tabling of the standing committee’s decision in the House.

 

 

20.   The Committee recommends that the party whips develop a plan for the scheduling of committee meetings, to be implemented in the autumn of 2001.

 

 

21.   The Committee recommends that procedures be developed for advising witnesses before parliamentary committees of the rights, duties and possible penalties.

 

22.   The Committee recommends that, for a six-month trial period, a motion to refer a government bill to a committee may include a deadline by which the bill must be reported back, such a motion to be moved only if all of the House Leaders agree.

 

 

23.   The Committee recommends that a second committee room be equipped for televising by the House of Commons on a gavel-to-gavel basis.

 

 

24.   The Committee recommends that the administration of the House of Commons proceed with plans for enhanced use of technology for the House, its committees and its Members.

 

 

25.   The Committee recommends that the amendments to the Standing Orders contained in this report, if adopted by the House, come into effect on the first sitting day of September 2001.

 

 

26.   The Committee recommends that the Clerk of the House be authorized to make necessary editorial and consequential alterations to the Standing Orders.