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At times, the House may choose to depart from, vary, or abridge, the rules it has made for itself. When the House has made substantial or permanent modifications to its procedures or practices, it has usually proceeded by way of motion preceded by notice; ad hoc changes, on the other hand, are often made by obtaining the consent of all Members present in the House at the time the departure from the rules or practices is proposed. Such a suspension of the rules or usual practices is accomplished by what is termed “unanimous consent”.[371] When unanimous consent is sought, the Chair takes care to ascertain that no voice is raised in opposition; if there is a single dissenting voice, there can be no unanimity.[372] Whenever the House proceeds by unanimous consent, the fact is noted in the official record.[373] When many rules are to be suspended simultaneously, confusion is avoided by ensuring that the corresponding motion sets out in detail the manner in which the House is to proceed.[374] Perhaps the most common application of unanimous consent is to dispense with the notice provisions of the Standing Orders.[375] For example, unanimous consent is sought to waive the notice requirement applicable to a substantive motion[376] and, once it is granted, a motion can be brought forward for a decision by the House. Bills have been introduced without the requisite notice;[377] likewise, motions authorizing committees to travel or change their membership (so‑called “housekeeping” matters) have been introduced without notice by unanimous consent and then decided forthwith.[378] It is by no means unusual for committee reports to be presented and, by unanimous consent, concurred in on the same day.[379] The deadline for filing with the Clerk of any notice prior to an adjournment period has also, on occasion, been extended by unanimous consent.[380] Unanimous consent has moreover been sought to move, without notice, a motion proposing changes to the Standing Orders; it was granted and the motion was adopted without debate.[381] For the most part, unanimous consent is used as a means either of expediting the routine business of the House or of extending the courtesies of the House. During debate, unanimous consent has been sought to extend briefly the length of speeches or the length of the “questions and comments period” following speeches;[382] to permit the sharing of speaking time;[383] to permit a Member who has already spoken once to a question to make additional comments;[384] and even to alter the usual pattern of rotation of speakers.[385] The arrangement of House business is also commonly achieved by unanimous consent. This may involve changes to the order of business,[386] the suspension of sittings,[387] alterations in adjournment hours or sitting days[388] and special orders respecting procedures for individual events.[389] The established order of the daily agenda of the House, particularly with respect to the sequence in which items are taken up during Routine Proceedings, is often altered by seeking unanimous consent to revert to an item in Routine Proceedings.[390] Thus, Members who may have inadvertently missed their cues under rubrics such as “Tabling of Documents”, “Presenting Reports from Committees”, “Introduction of Private Members’ Bills” and “Presenting Petitions”, routinely seek and are often granted unanimous consent to return to the appropriate item. With unanimous consent, bills have been advanced through more than one stage in a single day and referred to a Committee of the Whole rather than a standing committee,[391] and have even been amended by unanimous consent.[392] During divisions, unanimous consent has been sought to apply the results of one vote to another vote,[393] or to vote row‑by‑row,[394] or to apply Members’ votes to subsequent divisions.[395] By unanimous consent, recorded divisions have been deemed demanded and deemed deferred.[396] A private Member may seek unanimous consent to table a document referred to in debate, which is contrary to normal practice.[397] Less common uses of unanimous consent can also be identified. For example, at the beginning of the Third Session of the Thirty‑Fourth Parliament (1991‑93), two bills from the previous session were, by unanimous consent, reinstated on the Order Paper at the same stage as they were at when Parliament was prorogued;[398] committees have been reinstated, by unanimous consent, for the sole purpose of completing projects begun in the previous session.[399] There are two Standing Orders which explicitly provide for the use of unanimous consent. The first states that “a Member who has made a motion may withdraw the same only by the unanimous consent of the House”.[400] The substance of this rule has been in place since Confederation and reflects the principle that once moved, any motion becomes the property of the House. It also applies to amendments and subamendments. The second rule provides that if, at any time during a sitting of the House, unanimous consent is denied for the presentation of a “routine motion”, then a Minister may request without notice, during Routine Proceedings (under the rubric “Motions”)[401], that the Speaker propose the question on the motion.[402] This request can be made later in the same sitting or at a subsequent sitting of the House.[403] When the request is made, the question is put forthwith on the motion without debate or amendment.[404] If 25 or more Members rise to oppose the motion, it is deemed withdrawn; otherwise, it is adopted.[405] The routine motions to which this process applies include motions for:
This Standing Order was the object of procedural challenges prior to its adoption in 1991[407] and on the first two occasions on which it was invoked.[408] Since then, it has been invoked on a number of occasions after routine motions were refused unanimous consent.[409] In 2001, an attempt was made to use it in order to predetermine the outcome of all votes following the first recorded division on the Main Estimates. This led to a key ruling in which the Speaker cautioned against any attempt “to use Standing Order 56.1 as a tool to bypass the decision-making functions of the House”.[410] In 2007, an attempt to use the Standing Order to direct the business of a Standing Committee was similarly ruled out of order.[411]
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