The Legislative Process

Introduction

The examination and enactment of legislation are often regarded as the most significant tasks of Parliament. In the Parliament of Canada there is a clearly defined· method for enacting legislation. A bill must go through a number of specific stages in the House of Commons and the Senate before it becomes law. In parliamentary jargon, these stages make up what is called the legislative process.

When the House of Commons of Canada met for the first time on November 6, 1867, it began its proceedings under the rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, which already contained provisions relating to the consideration of bills.

Some of the rules concerning the legislative process that were in effect at Confederation are still in effect today. Some examples include the Standing Orders prohibiting the introduction of bills in blank or imperfect form, stipulating that all bills be read three times on different days, be printed in both official languages and be certified by the Clerk of the House on each reading.

Over the years, a number of special committees have examined the Standing Orders governing the legislative process. In 1968, the House created the Special Committee on Procedure and Organization of the House to perform a thorough review of the legislative process. The most important provisions adopted at that time include referring bills other than those based on supply and ways and means motions to standing or special committees; reviving the report stage as a debating stage of the legislative process; reducing the maximum length of speeches in debates at the report stage; and giving the Speaker the authority to select and combine amendments.

In April 1991, the House made extensive changes to its Standing Orders. Among the new provisions were those relating to the automatic adoption of motions for the introduction and first reading of bills; the possibility of referral, by a minister after consultation, of a bill to a standing or special committee rather than to a legislative committee, as had been the practice for a number of years; the requirement of a period of two sitting days, as opposed to 48 hours, between the time a bill is reported and the commencement of report stage; and the requirement of 24 hours’ written notice for any motion respecting Senate amendments to a bill.

At the beginning of the 35th Parliament in 1994, the Standing Orders were once again amended to make the legislative process more flexible. New provisions were added to provide for the preparation and bringing in of bills by committees and to extend further the possibility of referring bills to standing, special or legislative committees. The latter change has resulted in a trend away from referring bills to legislative committees in favour of referral to the appropriate standing committee. However, bills based on supply motions continued to be referred to a committee of the whole. In addition, it became possible for a minister to move that a government bill be referred to a committee before second reading.

During his term, Speaker Parent made a number of rulings on contentious issues related to the legislative process. The selected rulings reflect the variety and complexity of issues related to the legislative process that confronted Speaker Parent during his time in the Chair.

Of special note was a key ruling on a question of privilege that related to the confidentiality of amendments drafted by legislative counsel for members of Parliament. In addition, the Speaker was called upon to rule on several cases of privilege raised as a result of the disclosure of the contents of two bills prior to the bills being presented in the House; in one case to the media, and in the other to special interest groups. Other important rulings related to the admissibility of the bill that the government used to combine all legislative initiatives related to its budgets as well as a number of points of order concerning the admissibility of amendments during report stage.

During his tenure, Speaker Parent also had to address the way in which his report stage rulings on the selection and grouping of amendments were presented to the Chamber. During his last Parliament, opposition parties used a variety of tactics aimed at delaying the passage of bills, including submitting hundreds of amendments at report stage, thereby forcing lengthy sittings of the House to complete the numerous recorded divisions that ensued.

As a major proponent of the traditions and practices of the House of Commons, Speaker Parent focussed his rulings to take into account changing attitudes and practices within the Chamber and revisions to the Standing Orders made in the mid-1990’s relating to the legislative process.