Chapter 12The Process of Debate

Notice of Motion

In order to bring a substantive proposal before the House, a notice of motion must generally be given. This is to provide Members and the House with some prior warning so that they are not called upon to consider a matter unexpectedly.¹³⁰

In most cases, notices of motions are required to be submitted in writing and published in the Notice Paper.¹³¹ Generally, the written notices of motions which are published in the Notice Paper are for substantive motions—self-contained motions which are not dependent on any other question before the House. There are also provisions in the Standing Orders whereby notices of motions may be given orally (accompanied by a written text) during a sitting of the House.¹³² However, some other types of motions do not require any notice.¹³³

Depending on the type of motion and who is moving it, the notice period can vary from one hour to one week.¹³⁴ It is also possible to have more than one notice on the same subject (with the exception of items of Private Members’ Business¹³⁵), but once one of the motions is moved and the House takes a decision on it, any discussion or decision on the others is precluded.¹³⁶

Notice in Writing

Written notice is required for most substantive motions and items of business, including:

motions for leave to present a government or private Member’s bill;¹³⁷
report stage amendments to bills;¹³⁸
motions respecting Senate amendments to bills;¹³⁹
motions to be considered under Government Business;¹⁴⁰
motions for the appointment of a committee;¹⁴¹
routine motions empowering committees to travel;¹⁴²
motions for concurrence in committee reports;
resolutions for the revocation of regulations or statutory instruments presented to the House in the form of reports from the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations;¹⁴³
motions of instruction to committees;¹⁴⁴
opposition motions on supply days;¹⁴⁵
notice of opposition to any item in the estimates;¹⁴⁶
motions to concur in interim supply, main estimates, supplementary or final estimates, or to restore or reinstate any item in the estimates;¹⁴⁷
items to be considered during Private Members’ Business;¹⁴⁸
written questions on the Order Paper;¹⁴⁹
notices of motions for the production of papers;¹⁵⁰
motions dealing with the conduct of Members, Presiding Officers of the House, judges or the Governor General;¹⁵¹ and
motions for a resolution or address.¹⁵²

When the House is sitting, a Member giving notice must either table the notice (present it to a Table Officer in the Chamber) or file it with the Clerk (submit it to the Journals Branch) before 6:00 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, or before 2:00 p.m. on Friday, for it to be effective on that sitting day; the item will then appear in the Notice Paper (which is appended to the Order Paper) on the next sitting day.¹⁵³ Notices for the first scheduled sitting of the House following a period of adjournment may be filed with the Clerk at any time up to 6:00 p.m. on the Thursday before that sitting. These notices are then published in the Order Paper and Notice Paper for the day the House resumes sitting.¹⁵⁴ If the daily deadline for giving notice is not met, the notice becomes effective at the following sitting of the House.

Members must sign any written notices they are submitting for the Notice Paper in order to prevent the unauthorized use of their names and as authentication of their intentions. A notice sent by facsimile or electronic mail will be taken as an indication of a Member’s intentions; however, it must be followed up by the official notice bearing the Member’s original signature before the deadline in order to be included in the Notice Paper.¹⁵⁵ Since 2005, Members have also been able to satisfy the requirement for written notice by submitting items electronically through the E-notices website, where security procedures validate the authenticity of the notice.¹⁵⁶

If necessary, the procedural staff of the Clerk of the House will consult with the sponsoring Member with regard to any modifications to the text of the motion required in order to make it conform procedurally to the rules and practices of the House.¹⁵⁷ Rarely has the Speaker been called upon to intervene.¹⁵⁸ A notice of motion found to be admissible is inserted under the appropriate heading in the Notice Paper. When several notices in the same category are submitted, they are inserted in the Notice Paper in the order in which they are received. In the case of identical notices of motions to amend a bill at report stage, only the first one submitted is published.¹⁵⁹

A long-standing practice exists whereby any Member giving notice of a motion may place it under embargo; that is, the Member may instruct the Table Officers to withhold information about the content of the motion until that day’s deadline for the filing of notices, or until the publication of the Order Paper and Notice Paper containing the notice. In 1990, when an embargo was placed on the notice of a votable supply day motion to be debated and voted on a Friday, an objection was raised on the basis that the embargo had the effect of reducing the 48-hour notice period required in the circumstances.¹⁶⁰ In his ruling, Speaker Fraser concluded that the notice requirements in this case had been met and that, while an embargo could potentially have serious consequences, the decision is in the hands of the motion’s sponsor and the Chair and the Table Officers are bound to follow usual practice.¹⁶¹ The practice was again upheld by Speaker Milliken in a 2005 ruling in similar circumstances.¹⁶²

Members have raised points of order about the procedural acceptability of motions on the Notice Paper; at times, the Chair has refused to comment until the motions were actually before the House (i.e., called as an Order of the Day) and,¹⁶³ at other times, the Chair has ruled before the motion was before the House.¹⁶⁴

Removal of Notice

As long as a motion is not yet in the possession of the House or placed in the Order of Precedence, it remains a notice of motion and the sponsor may effect its withdrawal unilaterally, without seeking the consent of the House.¹⁶⁵ To do so, the Member either requests in writing that the Clerk withdraw it or rises in the House to withdraw the notice orally.¹⁶⁶ The item is then removed from the Notice Paper or the Order Paper. Alternatively, in some circumstances, if the sponsor declines to move the motion when the order is called, it is dropped from the Order Paper.¹⁶⁷ Notices have also been removed from the Order Paper and Notice Paper on the Speaker’s initiative, following the death or resignation of the sponsoring Member.¹⁶⁸

A motion or notice of motion is considered to be in the possession of the House under the following conditions:

once a motion has been moved;¹⁶⁹
once a private Member’s motion has been placed in the Order of Precedence following a draw for the establishment or replenishment of the latter;¹⁷⁰ or
once an Order of the Day has been designated for a government notice of motion¹⁷¹ or notice of a ways and means motion.¹⁷²

Such motion or notice of motion cannot then be removed from the Order Paper unless the House so decides. The sponsoring Member or Minister must request that it be withdrawn and the House must give unanimous consent to the request before removal can be effected.¹⁷³

Alteration to Notice

Modification to a notice of motion standing on the Notice Paper is permitted if the alterations are editorial in nature and no change is brought to the substance or scope of the original notice.¹⁷⁴ In order to bring about a substantive change to an item on notice, it is necessary (in the absence of unanimous consent for the change) to replace it with a new notice, which is then subject to the applicable notice requirement.¹⁷⁵

Oral Notice

Some items of business do not require 48-hours’ written notice; it is sufficient that an oral notice be provided during a sitting of the House. For example, at least 24 hours’ oral notice is required before a Minister is permitted to move a motion for closure,¹⁷⁶ or time allocation where there is no agreement among the parties in the House.¹⁷⁷ Also, a Minister may propose that a take-note debate be held, provided that motion is proposed at least 48 hours before the debate is to begin.¹⁷⁸

No Notice

As a general rule, there are no notice requirements for motions (called “subsidiary” motions) which are dependent on other business of the House. Other motions are also exempt from notice requirements either as a result of practice or a specific Standing Order. These include, for instance:

motions dealing with the progress of a bill after its introduction;¹⁷⁹
motions to commit (i.e., refer a matter to a Committee of the Whole or other committee);
motions for the previous question;¹⁸⁰
motions to adjourn the House;¹⁸¹
motions to adjourn the debate;
motions that another Member “be now heard”;¹⁸²
motions to proceed to the Orders of the Day;¹⁸³
motions to amend a question already before the House;
motions to postpone the question to a specific day;¹⁸⁴
motions to proceed to another order of business;
motions for time allocation on a bill, when there is complete or majority agreement among party representatives;¹⁸⁵
motions for the fixing of sitting days and the hours of meeting¹⁸⁶ or adjournment;
motions to continue or extend a sitting;¹⁸⁷
government motions to suspend the rules governing notice and times of sitting, in connection with matters considered urgent;¹⁸⁸
government motions dealing with routine matters, for which unanimous consent is required but has been denied;¹⁸⁹
motions based on prima facie questions of privilege;¹⁹⁰
motions to correct the records of the House;
motions traditionally disposed of by the House on the opening day of a session;¹⁹¹
motions to select a Deputy Speaker and Chair of the Committee of the Whole, an Assistant Deputy Speaker and Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole, and an Assistant Deputy Speaker and Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole;¹⁹² and
motions for the observance of the proprieties of the House.

Publication of a Special Order Paper and Notice Paper

Either before a session begins or when the House stands adjourned, the government may wish that the House, when it resumes sitting, give immediate consideration to a matter or matters for which notice would have to be provided. In these circumstances, the government communicates its intentions to the Speaker, who then directs that a Special Order Paper and Notice Paper be published listing notices of any government measures requiring immediate consideration by the House.¹⁹³ The Speaker also ensures that the Special Order Paper and Notice Paper is distributed to all Members at least 48 hours before the sitting. A Special Order Paper and Notice Paper has been published and distributed on more than 20 occasions.¹⁹⁴

Specific Notice Requirements

The length of the notice period (i.e., the time which must elapse before the item can be considered by the House) varies, depending on the type of motion. Most notices appear in the Notice Paper; however, others may be given to the Speaker in writing or given to the House orally (accompanied by written text). A 48-hour notice period applies in most cases;¹⁹⁵ other requirements range from one hour to one week.

Forty-Eight Hours’ Notice

In practice, the 48 hours’ notice requirement is not exactly 48 consecutive hours, but refers instead to the publication of the notice once in the Notice Paper and its transfer the next day to the Order Paper. For example, a Member might give notice at 6:00 p.m. on a Tuesday and be free as early as 10:00 a.m. on Thursday to proceed with his or her motion (the notice having appeared in the Notice Paper on Wednesday and in the Order Paper on Thursday).¹⁹⁶ Furthermore, a Member giving notice of a motion on a Friday before 2:00 p.m. may propose the motion to the House on the following Monday, the minimum notice period (48 hours) having elapsed over the weekend.¹⁹⁷

The requirement for 48-hours’ notice applies to motions for leave to introduce a public bill, leave to present a resolution or address, the appointment of any committee, or to place a written question on the Order Paper.¹⁹⁸

Other items of business requiring 48 hours’ written notice include:

meetings to elect committee Chairs;¹⁹⁹
committee meetings convened pursuant to Standing Order 106(4);
notices to oppose any item in the estimates during the supply period ending June 23;²⁰⁰
motions in amendment at the report stage of a bill that has not yet received second reading;²⁰¹
motions for concurrence in any committee report;
resolutions for the revocation of regulations or statutory instruments presented to the House in the form of reports from the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations;²⁰²
motions to concur in interim supply, the main estimates, and supplementary or final estimates, or to restore or reinstate any item in the estimates;²⁰³
opposition motions on supply days;²⁰⁴
exchanges of position in the Order of Precedence (Private Members’ Business);²⁰⁵
notices of motions for the production of papers;²⁰⁶ and
meetings of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to consider disciplinary action pursuant to section 29(4) of the Code of Conduct.

Twenty-Four Hours’ Notice

Some items of business require a notice period of 24 hours. As with the 48-hours’ notice period, it is not timed by the clock. For written notices, the 24-hour notice requirement simply means that a motion may be proposed once it appears in both the Notice Paper and the Order Paper (the text of the motion appears simultaneously in the Order Paper and in the Notice Paper). For example, if it is filed at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, it may be taken up at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday. For oral notices (accompanied by a written text), if it is given at any time during a sitting of the House, the motion may be taken up on the next sitting day.

Twenty-four hours’ written notice is required for:

motions respecting Senate amendments to a bill;²⁰⁷
motions in amendment to a bill at report stage following second reading;²⁰⁸
notices to oppose any item in the estimates, except during the supply period ending June 23;²⁰⁹
the item from the Order of Precedence which is to be considered during Private Members’ Hour;²¹⁰
items of Private Members’ Business rescheduled pursuant to Standing Order 30(7); and
meetings of any committee considering a private bill originating in the Senate.²¹¹

Twenty-four hours’ oral notice (accompanied by a written text) is required for:

motions for closure;²¹² and
motions for time allocation to a bill when there is no agreement among party representatives.²¹³

One Hour’s Notice

There are two situations in which Members must provide at least one-hour’s written notice to the Speaker. This is required if a Member wishes to:

raise a question of privilege on a matter which has not arisen out of the proceedings in the Chamber during the course of a sitting;²¹⁴ or
request permission to move a motion for the adjournment of the House for the purpose of debating “a specific and important matter requiring urgent consideration” (request for an emergency debate).²¹⁵

One Week’s Notice

Written notice of one week is required for the meeting of any committee considering a private bill originating in the House of Commons.²¹⁶

Rules Similar in Effect to Notice

While not themselves notice requirements, some procedural rules are similar in effect to notice requirements in that items of House business may not be transacted until a specified period of time has elapsed following the presentation of a report or another event in the House. Examples are:

The report stage of any bill referred to any standing, special or legislative committee before second reading may not begin prior to the third sitting day following the presentation to the House of the report of the said committee.²¹⁷
The report stage of any bill referred to any standing, special or legislative committee after second reading may not begin prior to the second sitting day following the presentation to the House of the report of the said committee.²¹⁸
Ten sitting days must elapse between the first and second hours of debate on private Members’ bills at the second reading stage or on private Members’ motions when these have not been previously disposed of.²¹⁹
A take-note debate cannot take place less than 48 hours following the adoption of the motion ordering it.²²⁰

130.: Notice requirements have been part of the Standing Orders since Confederation. For a description of the operation of notice in the British House, as it developed rules and principles to organize and arrange the “introduction, treatment and disposal” of the large amount of business before it, see Redlich, The Procedure of the House of Commons, vol. III, pp. 8–26.
131.: Standing Order 54. For further information on the Notice Paper, see Chapter 24, “The Parliamentary Record”.
132.: For example, notices of motions for closure (Standing Order 57) and notices of motions for time allocation where there is no agreement among party representatives (Standing Order 78(3)).
133.: For example, no notice is required for a motion to adjourn a debate or to amend a motion.
134.: For further information, see the section in this chapter entitled “Specific Notice Requirements”.
135.: The Speaker has the discretionary power (Standing Order 86(4)) to refuse the most recent notice, to so inform the sponsoring Member and to return the item to the sponsor (Debates, November 2, 1989, pp. 5474–5). For further information, see Chapter 21, “Private Members’ Business”.
136.: See Speaker Lamoureux’s ruling (Debates, September 14, 1973, pp. 6589–90).
137.: Standing Order 54.
138.: Standing Orders 76(2) and 76.1(2).
139.: Standing Order 77(1).
140.: Standing Order 54. Standing Order 53.1 exempts take-note debates from the requirement for notice in writing.
141.: Standing Order 54.
142.: Standing Order 56.2(1).
143.: Standing Order 123(4).
144.: Written notice is required for any motion of instruction moved in the form of an independent motion in the House. See, for example, Order Paper and Notice Paper, October 16, 2013, p. V. For further information, see Chapter 16, “The Legislative Process”.
145.: Standing Order 81(14)(a).
146.: Standing Order 81(14)(a).
147.: Standing Order 81(14)(a).
148.: Standing Order 94(1)(a) and (2)(a).
149.: Standing Order 54.
150.: Standing Order 97(1).
151.: Bourinot, Parliamentary Procedure and Practice, 4th ed., pp. 300–1. See, for example, Debates, March 13, 2000, p. 4397; Order Paper and Notice Paper, March 15, 2000, p. III. For further information, see Chapter 4, “The House of Commons and Its Members”, and Chapter 7, “The Speaker and Other Presiding Officers of the House”.
152.: Standing Order 54.
153.: Standing Order 54(1). The Order Paper and Notice Paper is published daily when the House sits. For further information on the Order Paper and Notice Paper, see Chapter 24, “The Parliamentary Record”.
154.: Standing Order 54(2). Adjournment periods are defined by Standing Order 28(2).
155.: In 1993, a Member’s notice of a motion (to amend a bill at report stage) was refused for inclusion on the next day’s Notice Paper because it had been faxed. A point of order was raised and, in his ruling, the Speaker advised that, in addition to having been received after the 6:00 p.m. deadline, the notice was inadmissible because notices submitted for the Notice Paper are not considered official until an original document with the Member’s signature is received (Debates, February 15, 1993, pp. 15899–900).
156.: Fourth Report of the Special Committee on the Modernization and Improvement of the Procedures of the House of Commons, para 32, presented to the House on June 12, 2003 (Journals, p. 915), and concurred in on September 18, 2003 (Journals, p. 995); Twenty-Sixth Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, presented to the House and concurred in on February 9, 2005 (Journals, pp. 407–8).
157.: This procedure has been followed since Confederation. See Sir John George Bourinot, Parliamentary Procedure and Practice in the Dominion of Canada (1884; repr., South Hackensack: Rothman Reprints, 1971), pp. 308–9.
158.: See, for example, Journals, January 14, 1953, p. 127.
159.: See, for example, Notice Paper, March 10, 2008, p. VIII.
160.: Debates, March 22, 1990, pp. 9613–24, 9628–9.
161.: Debates, March 26, 1990, pp. 9758–61.
162.: Debates, June 21, 2005, pp. 7543, 7582.
163.: See, for example, Debates, May 24, 1988, pp. 15697–703.
164.: See, for example, Debates, June 19, 1990, pp. 12963–7; May 28, 1991, pp. 702–3; February 15, 2008, pp. 3173–4.
165.: See Speaker Fraser’s ruling (Debates, December 7, 1989, p. 6584).
166.: See, for example, Debates, February 12, 1993, p. 15851; June 6, 2007, p. 10217.
167.: Standing Order 42(2). See, for example, Journals, February 26, 2014, p. 591, Debates, p. 3259.
168.: For example, notices sponsored by Jean-Claude Malépart (Laurier–Sainte-Marie) (died November 16, 1989), Catherine Callbeck (Malpeque) (resigned January 25, 1993), Stephen Harper (Calgary West) (resigned January 14, 1997), and Brian Jean (Fort McMurray—Athabasca) (resigned January 17, 2014) were withdrawn from the Order Paper. They included notices of motions for Private Members’ Business, notices of written questions and notices of motions for the production of papers. Private Members’ bills awaiting introduction and notices of motions under Routine Proceedings would also be withdrawn in such circumstances. Sponsorship of a private Member’s motion has also been transferred on occasion by unanimous consent following the resignation of the original sponsor. See, for example, Journals, September 27, 2000, p. 1996.
169.: Standing Order 64.
170.: Standing Order 87. See, for example, Journals, May 5, 1994, p. 430, Debates, p. 3958; Journals, February 3, 2004, p. 11, Debates, p. 64. For further information, see Chapter 21, “Private Members’ Business”.
171.: Standing Order 56(1).
172.: Standing Order 83(2).
173.: The House has given unanimous consent for the withdrawal of a government motion that has already been debated. See, for example, Journals, February 18, 1994, p. 174; May 11, 1994, p. 451. At times, notices of government motions for which Orders of the Day had been designated, but not yet called for debate, have been withdrawn by unanimous consent. See, for example, Journals, February 8, 1994, p. 132. In other cases, motions standing on the Order Paper under Government Business have been withdrawn without request for unanimous consent of the House. See, for example, Debates, March 3, 2000, p. 4349; May 19, 2016, p. 3591. See also Bourinot, Parliamentary Procedure and Practice, 4th ed., pp. 296–7. See also Standing Order 64.
174.: May, Erskine May’s Treatise on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament, 24th ed., p. 395. See also Bourinot, Parliamentary Procedure and Practice, 4th ed., p. 299.
175.: See Speaker Lemieux’s ruling (Journals, March 26, 1928, pp. 200–1).
176.: Standing Order 57. For further information on closure, see Chapter 14, “The Curtailment of Debate”.
177.: Standing Order 78(3). For further information on time allocation, see Chapter 14, “The Curtailment of Debate”.
178.: Standing Order 53.1.
179.: Standing Order 54. For further information, see Chapter 16, “The Legislative Process”.
180.: Standing Order 61.
181.: Standing Order 60.
182.: Standing Order 62.
183.: Standing Order 59.
184.: Standing Order 58. The motion to postpone consideration of the question to a specifc day has rarely been used in the House of Commons and is now obsolete.
185.: Standing Order 78(1) and (2). For further information, see Chapter 14, “The Curtailment of Debate”.
186.: Standing Order 54 refers to the “times of meeting” which has been interpreted as the hours of sitting. See Speakers’ rulings (Debates, May 21, 1920, pp. 2625–6; Journals, December 20, 1951, pp. 345–7).
187.: Standing Order 26(1). For further information, see Chapter 9, “Sittings of the House”.
188.: Standing Order 53. See, for example, Journals, June 16, 2016, p. 649. For further information, see Chapter 15, “Special Debates”.
189.: Standing Order 56.1. For further information, see Chapter 10, “The Daily Program”, and Chapter 14, “The Curtailment of Debate”.
190.: Standing Order 48. See, for example, Journals, March 3, 2014, p. 611. For further information, see Chapter 3, “Privileges and Immunities”.
191.: For further information, see Chapter 8, “The Parliamentary Cycle”.
192.: Standing Orders 7 and 8.
193.: Standing Order 55(1). See, for example, the Special Order Paper and Notice Paper published prior to the opening of the First and Second Sessions of the Thirty-Ninth Parliament, and of the Second Session of the Forty-First Parliament (Debates, April 4, 2006, p. 7; October 16, 2007, p. 3; October 16, 2013, pp. 2–3). This has also happened when the House has been recalled. For further information, see Chapter 8, “The Parliamentary Cycle”. For further information on the Special Order Paper and Notice Paper, see Chapter 24, “The Parliamentary Record”.
194.: For examples of its publication during recalls, see Appendix 12, “Recalls of the House of Commons During Adjournment Periods Since 1867”, of this volume. Since 1991, it has been the practice to include the time the notice was received in the Special Order Paper and Notice Paper. This serves to demonstrate that the 48-hour notice requirement has been met.
195.: Standing Order 54.
196.: Journals, October 6, 1970, pp. 1417–20.
197.: The same applies on the rare occasions on which the House sits on a Saturday. Notices filed on a Saturday appear in the Order Paper on Monday. See Bourinot, Parliamentary Procedure and Practice, 4th ed., p. 296. See also Speaker Michener’s ruling (Journals, May 8, 1961, p. 516).
198.: Standing Order 54(1).
199.: Standing Orders 104(1) and 106(1).
200.: Standing Order 81(14)(a). At other times, a 24-hour notice period applies. For further information, see Chapter 18, “Financial Procedures”.
201.: Standing Order 76(2).
202.: Standing Order 123(4). For further information, see Chapter 17, “Delegated Legislation”.
203.: Standing Order 81(14)(a).
204.: Standing Order 81(14)(a).
205.: Standing Order 94(2)(a).
206.: Standing Order 97(1).
207.: Standing Order 77(1).
208.: Standing Order 76.1(2).
209.: Standing Order 81(14)(a). During the supply period ending June 23, a 48-hour notice period applies. For further information, see Chapter 18, “Financial Procedures”.
210.: Standing Order 94(1)(a)(ii). For further information, see Chapter 21, “Private Members’ Business”.
211.: Standing Order 141(2)(a). For further information, see Chapter 23, “Private Bills Practice”.
212.: Standing Order 57. For further information, see Chapter 14, “The Curtailment of Debate”.
213.: Standing Order 78(3). For further information, see Chapter 14, “The Curtailment of Debate”.
214.: Standing Order 48(2). See, for example, Debates, November 25, 1997, pp. 2189–90; June 17, 2005, p. 7378. A question of privilege arising out of House proceedings may be raised without notice. A Member wishing to raise a question of privilege may also place a notice on the Notice Paper pursuant to Standing Order 54. For further information, see Chapter 3, “Privileges and Immunities”.
215.: Standing Order 52(2). For further information, see Chapter 15, “Special Debates”.
216.: Standing Order 141(2)(a). For further information, see Chapter 23, “Private Bills Practice”.
217.: Standing Order 76(1).
218.: Standing Order 76.1(1).
219.: Standing Order 93(2).
220.: Standing Order 53.1.

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