Rules of Debate / Process of Debate
Moving a motion: seconder no longer a Member of Parliament
Debates, p. 8471
Context
On January 29, 2002, John Williams (St. Albert) rose on a point of order to ask that the Chair rule the motion approving the budgetary policy of the Government out of order because it had been seconded by Herb Gray, the former Member for Windsor West. Geoff Regan (Halifax West) argued that, at the time the motion had been moved, Mr. Gray had been a Member of the House and that, therefore, the motion remained valid. The Deputy Speaker (Bob Kilger) replied that he believed that, since the former Member had seconded the motion while he was still a Member, the motion was valid. With a view to reflecting on the matter before ruling, he suspended the House briefly.
Resolution
At the resumption of the sitting, the Deputy Speaker delivered his ruling. He stated that the motion introduced was in order since the Member seconding the motion had been a Member in good standing at the time the motion was moved.
Decision of the Chair
The Deputy Speaker: I know this will not meet the satisfaction of the House on either side but my instincts tell me that the former hon. Member for Windsor West, of course, when his name appeared as the seconder for budgetary Motion No. 10 was a Member. However that being said, given the seriousness of the question, I would like to suspend the House momentarily to reflect on the matter to be sure that in fact I give the correct ruling to the House.
Editor’s Note
The sitting of the House was suspended at 6:18 p.m. and resumed at 6:21 p.m.
The Deputy Speaker: After some consultation I can confirm to the House that in fact my gut instincts were correct. The motion was introduced in order, the Member seconding the motion was in good standing. Today we are simply confirming the process.