![]() ![]() |
The Standing Orders provide for a one‑day special debate on the Standing Orders and procedures of the House and its committees early in each Parliament.[54] The debate takes place on a day designated by a Minister between the 60th and 90th sitting day of the first session of a Parliament. If no day is designated, the debate is held on the 90th sitting day.[55] Standing Order 51 was agreed to by the House in 1982 on the recommendation of the Special Committee on Standing Orders and Procedure, which believed an opportunity should be provided for Members to “express their views concerning the procedures and Standing Orders of the House”.[56] Since its adoption, however, the rule has been suspended several times, as Members have been given other forums to debate procedural matters. The first opportunity for a debate under this Standing Order came at the beginning of the Thirty-Third Parliament in 1984. However, well before the required 60th sitting day of the first session had been reached, the House unanimously agreed to suspend the Standing Order, presumably because debate to establish a special committee to study reform of the House had recently taken place.[57] The First Sessions of the Thirty‑Fourth (1988) and Fortieth Parliaments (2008) ended after only 11 and 13 sitting days respectively, thereby pre‑empting the use of the Standing Order. The rule was again suspended in the Thirty-Fifth Parliament (1994), when the House debated several amendments to the Standing Orders early in the session,[58] and in the Thirty-Seventh Parliament (2001), when the House established a special committee to study the modernization and improvement of the Standing Orders.[59] In addition, a Special Order was adopted early in the Thirty-Ninth Parliament (2006) deeming the debate pursuant to the Standing Order to have taken place.[60] There have only been two debates under this Standing Order. The first took place in the Thirty-Sixth Parliament (1998),[61] and the second in the Thirty-Eighth Parliament (2005).[62] In both cases, Members were given an opportunity to discuss the procedures of the House and its committees on a day designated by the Government House Leader.
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |