Amendments to Motions on Progress of Bills / Second Reading

Reference to committee; instruction to divide bill

Journals pp. 616-8

Debates pp. 4753-5

Background

During debate on the motion for second reading and referral to the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs of Bill C-150, an Act to amend the Criminal Code ... Mr. Woolliams (Calgary North) proposed an amendment to instruct the committee to make and bring into the House separate reports on four subjects contained in the bill. The Speaker heard comments from Members before ruling.

Issue

Can an amendment be proposed at second reading instructing a committee to divide a bill?

Decision

No. An amendment of this type is not acceptable at this time.

Reasons given by the Speaker

A bill must be read twice and referred to a committee before being amended, although a Member may move a reasoned amendment to the motion for second reading of a bill. The proposed amendment is not a reasoned amendment but is an instruction to the committee to which the bill is being referred. An instruction should not be given while the bill is still in the possession of the House, but rather, after referral to the committee. "The vote on second reading is less a vote on the principle of the bill and more a decision of the House to send the bill on for further consideration."

Sources cited

Standing Orders 74(1) and 75.

Journals, June 15, 1964, pp. 427-31.

Beauchesne, 4th ed., pp. 183, c. 222.

References

Debates, January 23, 1969, pp. 4725-7, 4747-53.