M-535 Amendments to the Standing Orders

That the Standing Orders of the House of Commons be amended:

(a) to add the following after Standing Order 14:

“14.1 For the purposes of interpreting the Standing Orders, at the commencement of each session or from time to time as necessity may arise, the Speaker of the House of Commons shall, upon receipt of a letter from the leader of a party or caucus signed by an absolute majority of party or caucus members, announce to the House the names of the House Leaders, Deputy House Leaders, Whips, Deputy Whips and caucus chairs.”

(b) to add the following after Standing Order 37:

“37.1 (1) Except as provided for in Standing Order 10 and Standing Order 11, and notwithstanding the usual practice of the House regarding allocation of a specific number of oral questions to Members of the governing party, each opposition Member shall have the right to ask at least one oral question per week or four oral questions per 20-day cycle during a session, as provided for in Standing Order 30(5).

(2) Upon at least two hours’ written notice to the Clerk prior to the time allocated for Oral Questions, opposition Members may:

(a) exchange this right with another Member;

(b) ask the Whip of their party or caucus to designate another Member for this purpose.

(3) Exchanges are recorded daily at the Table. Party or caucus Whips are required to ensure that their members comply with this Standing Order.”

(c) by deleting Standing Order 104 and replacing it with the following:

“104. (1)(a) At the commencement of the first session of each Parliament, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, which shall consist of a minimum of eleven Members and a maximum of twelve Members when an independent Member wishes to sit on the committee, and the membership of which shall continue from session to session, shall be appointed. The said Committee shall report to the House, pursuant to section (2) of this Standing Order, within ten sitting days after the establishment of the List for the Consideration of Private Members’ Business provided for in Standing Order 87(1)(a)(i), and thereafter within the first ten sitting days after the commencement of each session and within the first ten sitting days after the second Monday following Labour Day, lists of Members to compose the standing committees of the House pursuant to section (5) of this Standing Order and to act for the House on standing joint committees; provided that the Committee shall not present a second report pursuant to this Standing Order between the second Monday following Labour Day and the end of that calendar year.

(b) When, pursuant to Standing Order 104(1)(a), more than one independent Member wishes to sit on the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, the Speaker shall consult with the independent Members and announce to the House the name of the Member selected to sit on this committee. A motion proposing that the Member be appointed shall be deemed to have been moved, seconded and adopted without debate or amendment.

(2) Based on such considerations as the proportionality of the parties and caucuses represented in the House, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs shall prepare the lists of Members designated to sit on the standing committees of the House provided for in section (5) of this Standing Order using, in reverse order, the results of the random draw to establish the List for the Consideration of Private Members’ Business stipulated in Standing Order 87(1)(a)(i). After removing the names of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House as well as the names of the Ministers of the Crown, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs shall ask each Member whose name is on the List, including independent Members, on which standing committee they would like to sit until all positions on the committees have been filled. If required, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs shall follow the procedure again to complete the lists of members.

(3) For each standing committee and standing joint committee provided for in this Standing Order, a list of associate members deemed to be members of this committee for the purposes of Standing Orders 108(1)(b) and 114(2)(a) and who may act as substitutes on this committee pursuant to Standing Order 114(2)(b) shall be established in accordance with the procedure stipulated in section (2) of this Standing Order.

(4) Notwithstanding the process provided for in section (2) of this Standing Order, when two Members of the same caucus or two independent Members have given at least 48 hours’ written notice to the Clerk stating that they wish to make a permanent exchange in the membership of the committee, this exchange shall come into effect once the said notice has expired.

(5) The standing committees, which shall consist of a minimum of eleven Members and a maximum of 12 Members when an independent Member wishes to sit on a such a committee, and for which the lists of members are to be prepared, except as provided for in section (1) of this Standing Order, shall be on:

(a) Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development;

(b) Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics;

(c) Agriculture and Agri-Food;

(d) Canadian Heritage;

(e) Citizenship and Immigration;

(f) Environment and Sustainable Development;

(g) Finance;

(h) Fisheries and Oceans;

(i) Foreign Affairs and International Development;

(j) Government Operations and Estimates;

(k) Health;

(l) Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities;

(m) Industry, Science and Technology;

(n) International Trade;

(o) Justice and Human Rights;

(p) National Defence;

(q) Natural Resources;

(r) Official Languages;

(s) Procedure and House Affairs;

(t) Public Accounts;

(u) Public Safety and National Security;

(v) Status of Women;

(w) Transport, Infrastructure and Communities; and

(x) Veterans Affairs.

(6) The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs shall also report lists of Members in accordance with the same procedure provided for in section 104(2) of this Standing Order to act for the House on the Standing Joint Committees on:

(a) the Library of Parliament;

(b) Scrutiny of Regulations;

Provided that a sufficient number of Members shall be appointed so as to keep the same proportion therein as between the memberships of both Houses.

(7) If a seat on a standing or standing joint committee becomes vacant during a session, the first member of the caucus to which the seat has been designated who decided to become an associate member pursuant to the process provided for in section 104(3) of this Standing Order is automatically appointed to the committee, and that member’s name is removed from the list of associate members of that committee. If no member of this caucus is an associate member, the party or caucus whose member vacated a seat on the committee shall appoint one of its members to sit on the committee and shall provide the Clerk with written notification of the member’s name within 48 hours of the position becoming vacant. A position on a committee that has been left vacant by an independent Member shall be filled by the first independent Member who chose to be an associate member, pursuant to the process provided for in section 104(3) of this Standing Order. The name of the Member thus appointed to the committee is removed from the said committee’s list of associate members. If the said committee has no independent Members on its list of associate members, the committee will henceforth be composed of 11 members until a new list of members is established pursuant to section 104(1) of this Standing Order.”

that the new Standing Orders 14.1 and 37.1 come into effect on the first sitting day following a scheduled adjournment of the House, pursuant to Standing Order 28(2)(a);

that the amendments to Standing Order 104 come into effect at the commencement of the next session or on the first sitting day following the next Labour Day, whichever occurs first;

that the Clerk of the House be authorized to make any required editorial and consequential alterations to the Standing Orders.