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PROC Committee Meeting

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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

Meeting No. 24

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs met at 11:06 a.m. this day, in Room 112-N, Centre Block, the Chair, Gary Goodyear, presiding.

Members of the Committee present: Gary Goodyear, Michel Guimond, Hon. Jay Hill, Hon. Marlene Jennings, Hon. Stephen Owen, Pauline Picard, Joe Preston, Marcel Proulx and Scott Reid.

Acting Members present: Mike Allen for Scott Reid, Paul Dewar for Yvon Godin, Deepak Obhrai for Tom Lukiwski, Hon. Raymond Simard for Hon. Karen Redman and David Tilson for Hon. Jay Hill.

In attendance: Library of Parliament: James Robertson, Principal ; Sebastian Spano, Analyst . House of Commons: Wayne Cole, Legislative Clerk.

Witnesses: Privy Council Office: Dan McDougall, Director of Operations, Legislation and House Planning; Douglas Wolfe, Senior Policy Advisor, Legislation and House Planning. Department of Justice: Warren J. Newman, General Counsel, Constitutional and Administrative Law.

Pursuant to the Order of Reference of Tuesday, September 19, 2006, the Committee resumed consideration of Bill C-16, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act.

The Committee commenced its clause-by-clause study of the Bill.

The witnesses answered questions.

On Clause 1,

Michel Guimond moved, — That Bill C-16, in Clause 1, be amended by replacing lines 12 and 13 on page 1 with the following:

“election must be held on the fourth Monday of April in the fourth calendar year following”

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Michel Guimond and it was negatived, by a show of hands: YEAS: 4; NAYS: 7.

Paul Dewar moved, — That Bill C-16, in Clause 1, be amended by adding after line 17 on page 1 the following:

“(3) If the House of Commons adopts a motion of non-confidence in the government and the Prime Minister does not resign despite the adoption of that motion, the Prime Minister shall advise the Governor General to dissolve the House of Commons on the day the motion is adopted and to command that a general election be held on a Monday selected by the Prime Minister that is not later than 180 days following the day on which the motion is adopted.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), “motion of non-confidence” includes

(a) a motion that expressly states that the House has no confidence in the government;

(b) a motion that has been specifically identified by the government as a motion of non-confidence;

(c) a motion that provides for the granting of Supply, except if it only provides for the granting of an individual item of Supply;

(d) a motion that addresses the budgetary policy of the government; and

(e) a motion that relates to the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne.”

RULING BY THE CHAIR

The Chair ruled the proposed amendment inadmissible because it was beyond the scope of the Bill, as provided on page 654 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice.

Paul Dewar moved, — That Bill C-16, in Clause 1, be amended by adding after line 17 on page 1 the following:

“(3) Despite subsection (2), if the third Monday of October is a holiday, the general election must be held on the following Tuesday.”

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Paul Dewar and it was negatived, by a show of hands: YEAS: 1; NAYS: 10.

The Chair ruled that the following two (2) amendments were consequential to the previous amendment and therefore they were also negatived:

That Bill C-16, in Clause 1, be amended by replacing line 20 on page 1 with the following:

“be polling day under subsection 56.1(2) or (3) is not”

That Bill C-16, in Clause 2, be amended by replacing line 23 on page 2 with the following:

“56.1(2) or (3) or section 56.2, if, in the week in which”

Clause 1 carried on division.

Clause 2 carried.

Clause 3 carried.

The Title carried.

The Bill carried.

ORDERED, — That the Chair report the Bill to the House.

The Committee proceeded to the consideration of matters related to Committee business.

At 12:04 p.m., the Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.

Lucile McGregor
Clerk of the Committee

2006/10/24 4:16 p.m.