The Daily Program / Oral Questions

Questions put by Parliamentary Secretaries

October 1, 1991

Debates, p. 3001

On October 1, 1991, during Routine Proceedings, Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg Transcona) rose on a point of order to point out that during Oral Question Period on the previous day, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of State (Finance and Privatization), Mr. Peter McCreath, had put a question.^[1] Mr. Blaikie claimed that this was the second time in a matter of weeks that a Parliamentary Secretary had put a question. He asked the Speaker for assurance that these incidents had been errors, since this practice was not an established one in Canada, and said that the conclusions of the Standing House Management Committee’s subcommittee on the format and nature of Question Period should not be anticipated.^[2] The Speaker’s ruling is reproduced in full below.

Decision of the Chair

The Speaker: I want to respond immediately to the honourable Member for Winnipeg Transcona. He raises a point and he is correct that twice within the last couple of weeks a Parliamentary Secretary has been recognized.

I want to say first of all to the honourable Member and to the House that that was an inadvertence and an oversight on my part for which I apologize if it has caused any anxiety.

I want to make it very clear that the Sixth Edition of Beauchesne, Citation 413, deals with questions by Parliamentary Secretaries and I read the section:

Those such as Parliamentary Secretaries who are clothed with the responsibility of answering for the Government ought not to use the time of the Question Period for the privilege of asking questions of the Government.

It cites Debates, November 5, 1974, pages 1059 [to 1064].

That practice has been adhered to and there may have been a slippage out of inadvertence, but that practice has been adhered to and I want to assure the House that I am not unilaterally changing the practice.

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1991-10-01