The Legislative Process / Miscellaneous

February 21, 2000

Debates, pp. 3766-7

On February 15, 2000, at the beginning of the sitting, Eric Lowther (Calgary Centre) raised a question of privilege regarding the disclosure of Bill C‑23, An Act to modernize the Statutes of Canada in relation to benefits and obligations, to a third party, before its introduction and first reading in the House on Friday, February 11, 2000. The member stated that an e-mail was sent by John Fisher ( a member of a special interest group) outlining in detail his analysis of the bill before its introduction in the House. He argued that in order to do an analysis of this bill, the author would have had to be in possession of the bill. He held Anne McLellan (Minister of Justice) responsible for leaking the information and the author for obtaining and using information, contrary to parliamentary law and practices. After debate, the Acting Speaker (Yolande Thibeault) took the matter under advisement.^[1]

On February 21, 2000, the Speaker ruled on the matter. He stated that the members of the House should always be the first to examine legislation after it has been introduced and read the first time, but this rule must be balanced against the need for the government to consult both experts and the public when developing its legislative proposals. The Chair ruled that the matter raised by the member for Calgary Centre did not constitute a prima facie case of privilege nor a contempt of Parliament.

Decision of the Chair

The Speaker: I am now prepared to deal with the question of privilege raised by the honourable member for Calgary Centre on Tuesday, February 15, 2000, relating to the alleged disclosure of Bill C‑23, An Act to modernize the Statutes of Canada in relation to benefits and obligations, to a third party before the introduction and first reading of the bill in the House.

I would like to thank the honourable member for bringing this matter to the attention of the House, as well as the opposition House leader, the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader and the honourable member for South Surrey‑—White Rock—Langley for the assistance they have offered to the Chair.

The issue raised by the honourable member for Calgary Centre concerned the premature disclosure of Bill C‑23 by the Minister of Justice to a special interest group which subsequently did an in-depth analysis of the bill before it was actually introduced and read a first time in the House. In his presentation the honourable member argued that this behaviour was contrary to the parliamentary law and practices of the House.

I fully understand the frustrations of the honourable member regarding the circulation of documents that are of a confidential nature and I have ruled on this in the past. Certainly, the Chair is of the opinion that government bills, once placed on notice, should be kept confidential until introduced in Parliament.

Bearing this in mind, the Chair wishes to emphasize that this is not the first time that a case of this nature has been raised oh the floor of the House. In fact, a question of privilege with certain similarities to the present one was before the House on January 18 and 19, 1984.

I refer members to the ruling Speaker Francis gave on January 19, 1984, and which can be found at page 563 of the Debates. He stated:

The process of consultation is an important part in the development of proposals if they are to succeed in the public interest—

There are number of situations where drafts of bills have been circulated and no further action has been taken with regard to them. Surely the Chair cannot be placed in a position of determining whether a document or a piece of paper, or whatever it is—it is certainly not a document of the House—can or cannot be circulated, or that the Speaker in some way should regulate the persons to whom such a document could be circulated.

I am of the same opinion as Speaker Francis. Although the members of the House should always be the first ones to examine legislation after it has been introduced and read the first time, this rule must be balanced against the need for the government to consult both experts and the public when developing its legislative proposals. The form and content of such legislative proposals is entirely left to the discretion of the government. Once introduced and read a first time in the House, the text is officially made public and the legislative process in Parliament is initiated. The Chair must rule that the matter raised by the honourable member for Calgary Centre does not constitute a prima facie case of privilege nor a contempt of Parliament.

I would like to thank the honourable member for Calgary Centre and all of the other interveners for raising this matter.

P0506-e

36-2

2000-02-21