The House and its Members / Miscellaneous

Failure to table Order in Council appointments in the House following their publication in the Canada Gazette; Members prevented from carrying out parliamentary duties

March 9, 2004

Debates, pp. 1259-60

On March 8, 2004, Joe Clark (Calgary Centre) rose on a question of privilege, alleging that the Government had contravened Standing Orders 110 and 111 by failing to table several Order in Council appointments within five days of their publication in the Canada Gazette between December 20, 2003 and February 7, 2004. Mr. Clark argued that therefore, Parliament, through its committees, had been denied the right to examine those appointments. After hearing from other Members, the Speaker took the matter under advisement.^[1] On March 9, 2004, Jacques Saada (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister responsible for Democratic Reform) informed the House that the appointments made between October 28, 2003 and February 27, 2004, would be tabled later that day, and that the related internal follow-up procedure had been tightened up to avoid a recurrence of the situation. Mr. Clark then acknowledged that it was an administrative error only, but insisted that the question remained as to whether the rights and privileges of the House had been breached.^[2]

On March 9, 2004, immediately after hearing from the two Members, the Speaker delivered his ruling. He agreed that there had been a breach of the Standing Orders and, referring to Standing Order 110(1), ordered that the 30 sitting days permitted for the consideration of the Order in Council appointments in committee be counted from the date of tabling, rather than from the date on which the Orders in Council ought to have been tabled.

Decision of the Chair

The Speaker: I thank both the Government House Leader and the Rt. Hon. Member for Calgary Centre for their submissions on this point.

The Rt. Hon. Member for Calgary Centre yesterday raised this point of order, and I will again quote to the House Standing Order 110(1):

A Minister of the Crown shall lay upon the Table a certified copy of an Order in Council, stating that a certain individual has been appointed to a certain non-judicial post, not later than five sitting days after the Order in Council is published in the Canada Gazette. The same shall be deemed to have been referred to a standing committee specified at the time of tabling, pursuant to Standing Order 32(6), for its consideration during a period not exceeding 30 sitting days.

Now the Rt. Hon. Member for Calgary Centre has pointed out that in fact these Order in Council appointments have been tabled late.

The Government House Leader indicated that this was an accident and that the problem has now been corrected.

What I am prepared to do, and I think is reasonable in the circumstances based on the submissions of the Rt. Hon. Member, is order that the 30 sitting days will start today, from the date of the tabling, not from the date they should have been tabled, if that argument should arise. Accordingly, there are now 30 sitting days for the committees involved in the appointments that have been tabled today by the Government House Leader to study the matter as they would have been able to do had they been tabled on time.

I quite agree with the Rt. hon. gentleman that this was a breach of our Standing Orders. He indicated that yesterday, and I agree with him. In the circumstances, he I think is inclined, as I am, to accept the apology of the Government House Leader.

We can now move on to the review of these appointments in committee for the period provided under the rules of the House. I believe that this matter is now closed. If there are problems with the committee review, I am sure the Rt. Hon. Member for Calgary Centre will let me know.

At the beginning of Routine Proceedings that day, the Government House Leader tabled the Order in Council appointments.^[3]