Content of Bills / Discrepancy with Provisions of the Ways and Means Resolution

Discrepancy with provisions of the ways and means resolution

Journals pp. 224-5

Debates pp. 2380-1

Background

On December 11, when the Committee of the Whole had resumed consideration of Bill C-40, an Act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Excise Act, a point of order was brought up again by Mr. Lambert (Edmonton West), based on one raised by Mr. Whittaker (Okanagan Boundary) a week earlier, because of certain discrepancies between the ways and means motion and the terms of the bill. The Committee rose and reported progress, whereupon the point of order was discussed with the Speaker in the Chair.

Issue

Is the bill in sufficient conformity with the provisions of the ways and means resolution upon which it is based?

Decision

The point of order is not accepted.

Reasons given by the Speaker

With respect to the specific case, the provisions of the bill widen the class of items exempted from a tax without changing the tax itself or the general description of exemption contained in the ways and means resolution.

Standing Order 60(11), which establishes the relationship between the ways and means motions and bills, does not require that they be identical, but only that the bill be based on the ways and means motion.

Authority cited

Standing Order 60(11).

References

Debates, December 6, 1974, pp. 2030-1; December 11, 1974, pp. 2165-8.