Parliamentary Privilege / Procedure

Procedure for dealing with matters of privilege: time of raising and notice requirements

October 29, 2001

Debates, p. 6671

On October 29, 2001, John Reynolds (West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast) rose on a question of privilege to claim that David Collenette (Minister of Transport) was in contempt of the House because he had made a statement about Government policy outside the House. Mr. Reynolds maintained that this brought the authority and dignity of the House into question. After hearing from other Members, the Speaker ruled immediately that the matter was not a prima facie breach of privilege.^[1] He then took the opportunity to remind the House of what elements Members should include when giving notice of a question of privilege. (Editor’s Note: Only the section of the Speaker’s decision describing notice requirements for raising questions of privilege is reproduced below.)

Statement of the Chair

The Speaker: I would remind all hon. Members that apart from the one-hour notice requirement for questions of privilege, there are other rules governing notice of intention to raise a question of privilege.

House of Commons Procedure and Practice, the Marleau and Montpetit book we all read so rigorously, at pages 123 and 124 describes them as follows:

The notice submitted to the Speaker should contain four elements:

1. It should indicate that the Member is writing to give notice of his or her intention to raise a question of privilege.
2. It should state that the matter is being raised at the earliest opportunity.
3. It should indicate the substance of the matter that the Member proposes to raise by way of a question of privilege.
4. It should include the text of the motion which the Member must be ready to propose to the House should the Speaker rule that the matter is a prima facie question of privilege.

The letters I have been receiving lately have been deficient in respect of these matters. I draw them to the attention of the hon. Members in case some time I fire the letter back and say I will not hear it today and you will have to send me proper notice. Notice has been accordingly given. Of course we all want to comply with the rules.