The Daily Program / Adjournment Proceedings

Request to transfer subject matter of Order Paper question to Adjournment Proceedings

November 20, 1992

Debates, p. 13720

In April 1991, the Standing Orders were amended to provide that a member, upon placing a written question on the Order Paper, could signal that he or she wished it to be answered within 45 days. If the question remained unanswered at the end of that time period, the member would then have the option of transferring the question and raising the subject matter on the adjournment of the House. On at least three occasions,^[1] Albert Cooper (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons), in responding to points of order and questions of privilege pertaining to the failure of the government to answer such questions within the 45 days, suggested that members invoke the new section of the Standing Order which would allow debate on the subject matter of the question to take place on the adjournment motion. On November 20, 1992, Robert Skelly (Comox—Alberni) rose on a point of order when the rubric Questions on the Order Paper was called to indicate that although he had two questions (Nos. 283 and 284) on the Order Paper since April 1992, the government had not yet answered them. He requested that Question No. 283 be transferred to the adjournment debate.^[2] The Deputy Speaker (Andrée Champagne) replied immediately.

Decision of the Chair

The Deputy Speaker: As far as Question No. 283 is concerned, our rules do provide for such a procedure. It is agreed and so ordered.

The debate on the subject matter of the question (human rights) took place on November 24, 1992 and can be found in Debates on pages 13987 and 13988. This represented the only question to be transferred during Speaker Fraser’s term.

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1992-11-20