Routine Proceedings / Motions

Committee report; Standing Orders

Journals pp. 1319-20

Debates pp. 10955-6

Background

After Mr. Blair (Grenville-Carleton) had moved the motion to concur in the third report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and Organization, Mr. Baldwin (Peace River) rose on a point of order. He maintained that aside from a few brief sections of a specific character in the British North America Act, "there is nothing investing this House with the right to make rules of order and rules of procedure". The only way in which new rules and procedures could be adopted, according to Mr. Baldwin, would be by an Act of Parliament.

Issue

Is the motion to concur in the report relating to modifications to the rules of the House in order?

Decision

Yes. The motion can be put.

Reasons given by the Speaker

The point of order raised is not so much a point of order as a point of debate. "... it is not the responsibility of the Chair to rule on questions of law or on constitutional questions." If the Member believes that his argument is founded on a constitutional point, he can put it before the House in the course of the debate.

Sources cited

Standing Order 12(1).

Journals, October 25, 1963, pp. 488-9.

Debates, June 4, 1925, pp. 3874-5; October 25, 1963, pp. 4036-7.

Beauchesne, 4th ed., p. 59, c. 69(3); p. 61, c. 71(5).

References

Debates, July 8, 1969, pp. 10950-5.