Selected Decisions of Speaker James Jerome 1974-1979
Amendments to the Content of Bills / Report Stage
Motions in amendment, beyond scope of bill
Journals pp. 700-1
Debates p. 7495
Background
On July 8, as the House proceeded to the report stage consideration of Bill C-63, an Act to amend the Olympic (1976) Act, the Acting Speaker (Mr. Penner) indicated that Motion No. 3 standing in the name of Mr. Jelinek (High Park—Humber Valley) was procedurally unacceptable. Motion No. 3, he noted, appeared to be an amendment to the Canadian Bill of Rights and, therefore, was irrelevant to the present bill. The Speaker reiterated this position in a decision made July 11.
Issue
Can a motion in amendment at report stage go beyond the bill and amend another statute?
Decision
No. The amendment is not acceptable and is out of order.
Reasons given by the Speaker
The first part of the motion seems to be redundant because it states that the Canadian Bill of Rights applies to this bill. The Bill of Rights always applies unless it is explicitly stated in the proposed Act that it will not apply. This does not, however, make the motion out of order from a procedural point of view. The problem is that the motion goes on to interpret the language of the Bill of Rights as it relates to this specific bill and that exceeds the proper scope of a report stage amendment.
Authorities cited
Beauchesne, 4th ed., p. 285, c. 406.
May, 18th ed., p. 508.