House of Commons Procedure and Practice
Edited by Robert Marleau and Camille Montpetit
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23. Private Bills Practice

[51] 
Prior to Confederation, committees had no power to examine witnesses under oath, but in 1867-68, an Act was passed empowering the committee on any private bill to examine witnesses upon oath to be administered by the Chair or any member of such committee (Todd, 3rd ed., p. 68). See An Act to provide for Oaths to Witnesses being administered in certain cases for the purposes of either House of Parliament, S.C. 1867-68, c. 24, ss. 2-3.
[52] 
Beauchesne, 4th ed., pp. 355-6.
[53] 
Beauchesne, 4th ed., pp. 350, 356.
[54] 
Standing Order 141(1). See, for example, Journals, May 29, 1990, p. 1776; May 30, 1990, p. 1784.
[55] 
Petitioners have no locus standi before a committee when their property or interests are not directly affected by the bill, or when, for other reasons, they are not entitled to oppose it (Bourinot, 4th ed., p. 608).
[56] 
For procedures relative to committee proceedings when a petition against a private bill has been received by a legislative committee, see Legislative Committee on Bill S-10, An Act respecting the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, May 22, 1990 and May 30, 1990, Issue No. 1, p. 6.
[57] 
Todd, 3rd ed., p. 73.
[58] 
Todd, 3rd ed., p. 73; Bourinot, 4th ed., p. 606.
[59] 
Todd, 3rd ed., p. 79. For a recent example of a committee exercising this quasi-judicial function, see Legislative Committee on Bill S-10,An Act respecting the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, May 22, 1990 and May 30, 1990, Issue No. 1, pp. 5-6, 51-3.
[60] 
See Standing Order 134. Section 15 of the Publication of Statutes Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. S-21) also provides for the promoter to pay the charges set by the House in which the bill originates. This principle was entrenched in Rule No. 58 of the Rules of the House of Commons of Canada, 1868: “The expenses and costs attending on Private Bills giving an exclusive privilege, or for any object of profit, or private, corporate, or individual advantage; or for amending, extending, or enlarging any former Acts, in such manner as to confer additional powers, ought not to fall on the public …”
[61] 
Standing Order 134(1).
[62] 
Standing Order 134(2).
[63] 
Standing Order 134(3)-(8). These fees apply also to bills originating in the Senate. The rules on the matter of fees refer to a time when private bills were the usual way for companies to become incorporated or to amend their charters. Such parliamentary procedure is now almost totally superseded by administrative procedure under public general acts such as the Canadian Business Corporations Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-44).
[64] 
This official is referred to as the Chief Clerk of Private Bills and also acts as the Examiner of Petitions for Private Bills and the Examiner of Private Bills. In 1862, the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada appointed the Chief Clerk of the Private Bills Office as its Examiner of Standing Orders, assigning to him the responsibility of examining the facts with regard to notice given on each petition. This practice continued following Confederation in the new Parliament. See Todd, 3rd ed., p. 36.
[65] 
Standing Order 134(9). The House has allowed those fees paid in a previous session (when the bill was introduced but had not passed because of a prorogation) to apply to a bill in the following session (see, for example, Journals, October 20, 1967, p. 401).
[66] 
Journals, June 8, 1892, p. 354; July 2, 1892, p. 417; May 21, 1976, p. 1307; May 26, 1976, p. 1313. See also Speaker’s ruling, Journals, December 9, 1974, pp. 179-81.
[67] 
Bourinot, 2nd ed., p. 730.
[68] 
Bourinot, 4th ed., p. 604.
[69] 
Standing Order 132 was deleted on June 10, 1994. See Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence (Twenty-Seventh Report), June 9, 1994, Issue No. 16, p. 8. See also Journals, June 8, 1994, p. 545; June 10, 1994, p. 563.
[70] 
See, for example, Journals, March 19, 1990, pp. 1363-4.
[71] 
Beauchesne, 6th ed., p. 287.
[72] 
See, for example, An Act respecting the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, S.C. 1990, c. 52; An Act to change the name of The Canadian Medical Association, S.C. 1993, c. 48.
[73] 
See, for example, An Act to amalgamate the Alberta corporation known as the Missionary Church with the Canada corporation known as the Evangelical Missionary Church, Canada West District, S.C. 1995, c. 50; An Act to dissolve the Nipissing and James Bay Railway Company, S.C. 1996, c. 38.
[74] 
Debates, April 20, 1883, pp. 741-3. Departures from the general form were to be specially noted, and any bill which deviated from this rule would be returned to the promoters (see Dawson, p. 246).
[75] 
Debates, June 18, 1887, pp. 1115-6. Unusual provisions in the proposed bills were to be marked and were to be clearly specified in the notice of application (Dawson, p. 246). Model bills were prepared for the incorporation of banks, trust companies, loan companies, insurance companies and railways.
[76] 
Standing Order 136(2).
[77] 
Standing Order 136(2).
[78] 
Standing Order 136(3).
[79] 
Standing Order 136(4).
[80] 
Standing Order 136(5).
[81] 
Standing Order 138.
[82] 
Although in the past a private bill might have been drafted by the promoter’s counsel who would then also act as the parliamentary agent, in today’s practice a private bill is usually drafted with the assistance of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the Senate because most, if not all, private bills are now introduced in that Chamber. If a bill is to originate in the House of Commons however, pursuant to Standing Order 134(1), a copy of the bill is to be deposited with the Clerk of the House no later than the first day of the session. The bill is then examined by a House official to ensure it satisfies the specific requirements as to form (Standing Order 136(1)).
[83] 
Standing Order 147. In current practice (because most, if not all, private bills originate in the Senate), after the petition and the bill have been received by the House, the House typically proceeds through all stages in the same sitting by unanimous consent. See, for example, Journals, March 13, 1997, p. 1281; April 14, 1997, p. 1383; December 9, 1998, p. 1430, March 18, 1999, pp. 1636-7. On one occasion, a petition for a private bill originating in the Senate was filed by a Member, deemed filed within the required time limit and reported on by the Examiner of Petitions; and the bill was read a second time, referred to a Committee of the Whole, reported without amendment, concurred in at the report stage, read a third time and passed, all on the same day. See Journals, June 15, 1993, pp. 3309, 3314.
[84]
Senate bill numbers commence with the letter “S”. For further information, see Chapter 16, “The Legislative Process”.
[85] 
Standing Order 131(3). Unlike a public petition, a private bill petition is not certified by the Clerk of Petitions before being presented.
[86] 
See, for example, Journals, December 1, 1992, p. 2267; June 15, 1993, p. 3314; May 5, 1999, p. 1831.
[87] 
Unlike public petitions, petitioners for a private bill are not required to obtain 25 signatures (see Speaker’s ruling, Debates, December 1, 1986, p. 1647). See also Chapter 22, “Public Petitions”.
[88]
The prayer is that part of a petition in which the petitioners present their request for some action. The prayer must be clear, proper and respectful, and the action requested must be within the jurisdiction of Parliament.
[89] 
Standing Order 131(4).
[90]
Between 1920 and 1928, a number of examples can be found in the Journals where a private bill originating in the Senate passed through the House of Commons without a petition being presented in the House of Commons; but since 1928, it has been the practice for a petition to be presented in both Houses.
[91] 
Standing Order 131(5).
[92] 
Standing Order 141(1).
[93] 
Prior to June 1994, petitions had to be filed within the first six weeks of the session. If they were not filed within this period, the Clerk of Petitions would report that the petition did not meet the requirements in respect to the filing of petitions (see, for example, Journals, November 27, 1991, p. 809; April 1, 1992, p. 1250). A motion would then be adopted to refer the petition and the report to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. The Committee would recommend the suspension of the Standing Order. If the Committee’s report was concurred in by the House, the petition would be received (Standing Order 140) (see, for example, Journals, February 14, 1990, p. 1219; March 19, 1990, pp. 1363-4). On occasion, and throughout most of the Third Session of the Thirty-Fourth Parliament (1991-93), unanimous consent would be given to deem that a petition for a private bill had been presented within the required time frame (see, for example, Journals, December 4, 1991, p. 846). Since Standing Order 132 concerning the time requirement for the filing of petitions was removed from the Standing Orders in June 1994 (Journals, June 10, 1994, p. 563), no petition has been deemed inadmissible. The Committee occasionally recommended that charges be levied for the suspension or modification of the Standing Orders (Standing Order 134(3)(a)) (see, for example, Journals, July 7, 1981, pp. 2790-1).
[94] 
Standing Order 131(6).
[95] 
The position of Examiner of Petitions for Private Bills first appeared in the text of the written Standing Orders in 1906. In July of that year, the Special Committee to Revise the Rules of the House recommended that such a position be established, the purpose of which would be to consider whether petitions for private bills met the notice requirements and so report to the House. This employee relieved the Committee on Standing Orders of its preliminary responsibility to report to the House on notice requirements. See Journals, July 10, 1906, pp. 579-80. In March 1927, a number of amendments were made to the Standing Orders concerning private bills, one of which declared that the Chief Clerk of Private Bills would be the Examiner of Petitions for Private Bills (Journals, March 22, 1927, pp. 352-3).
[96] 
Standing Order 133(2). See, for example, Journals, June 11, 1992, p. 1696; March 18, 1997, p. 1310. It has happened that the Clerk of Petitions and the Examiner of Petitions for Private Bills have reported the same day (see, for example, Journals, June 21, 1994, pp. 651-2; December 13, 1995, p. 2257; April 27, 1999, p. 1775). In case of a railway company, or of a canal company, or for extension of the line of any existing or authorized railway or canal, or for the construction of branches thereto, the Examiner of Petitions can not consider the petition unless a map or plan is also filed (Standing Order 133(4)). If the map or plan is not filed, the Examiner of Petitions will not report, and the matter would not be further proceeded with.
[97] 
Standing Order 133(2). Since 1960, there have been no cases of a report of the Examiner of Petitions for Private Bills being referred to a committee for consideration because of deficiencies in the notice requirements.
[98] 
Standing Order 133(3). See also Todd, 3rd ed., p. 118. The Examiner of Petitions for Private Bills examines and reports on the bill after first reading and before the committee stage.
[99] 
Standing Orders 133(2) and 140. If the Committee finds, for example, that the persons affected by the proposed bill had sufficient knowledge of the applicant’s intentions or that the applicant alone would be affected, then the Committee may even recommend that the notice requirement be suspended completely. If, when the Committee compares the notice and the petition, it finds that the terms of the notice do not correspond to those of the petition or that the notice fails to indicate clearly the object of the petition, the Committee must conclude that the bill is inadmissible, in whole or in part, and may recommend that the matter not be proceeded with or that certain provisions not included in the notice be struck from the bill (see Bourinot, 4th ed., pp. 593-4; Beauchesne, 4th ed., p. 344).
[100] 
If the Committee does not recommend that a particular provision of the Standing Orders be suspended, Standing Order 140 implies that no motion for suspension of that provision can be made in the House.

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