Amendments to the Content of Bills / Report Stage

Report stage of private bills, motions in amendment

Journals p. 1086

Debates p. 11509

Background

On February 26, while the House was considering the report stage of Bill S-30, an Act to incorporate Continental Bank of Canada, Mr. Reid (Kenora—Rainy River) raised a point of order on the acceptability of the report stage motions standing in the name of Mr. Saltsman (Waterloo—Cambridge). Mr. Reid said that the effect of those motions would be an expanded negative to the principle of the bill. Consequently, they should be ruled out of order.

Issue

Do these report stage motions, taken collectively, negate the principle of the bill? Can the Speaker rule all these motions out of order at the same time?

Decision

The motions should not be ruled out of order all at the same time.

Reasons given by the Speaker

Even if some motions may offend procedure by being expanded negatives, that does not give the Speaker the right to rule on all of them at the same time.

If some are out of order, they will be set aside by the Chair for discussion at the proper time.

The Chair must be convinced that the bill and the bank proposed to be incorporated therein would disappear as a result of the combined effect of these motions, and that is not the case.

References

Debates, March 4, 1976, pp. 11506-9.