The Daily Program / Daily Proceedings

Oral Questions: administrative responsibility of the Government; internal matters of a political party

April 12, 2005

Debates, p. 4954

On April 12, 2005, Diane Ablonczy (Calgary–Nose Hill) rose on a point of order seeking clarification from the Speaker as to why her questions during Oral Questions had been ruled out of order. The Speaker had indicated that the questions did not deal with matters within the administrative responsibility of the Government but rather internal matters of the Liberal Party.^[1] Mrs. Ablonczy argued that her questions regarding an audit of the Liberal Party involved the expenditure of public funds.^[2]

The Speaker ruled immediately. He stated that he had ruled the questions out of order because they had dealt with internal matters of a political party, and that, normally, party finances are not the administrative responsibility of the Government, even if Government monies had been paid to the party for some reason. He added that he would review the matter and that, if he felt that his ruling needed to be modified, he would return to the House.

Decision of the Chair

The Speaker: I thank the hon. Member for Calgary–Nose Hill for her intervention.

Yes, I ruled the questions out of order and I did so on the basis that they dealt with internal party matters. If the audit had been one that was paid for by the Government at the request of the Government because of problems and had been ordered by the Ministry specifically, I might have had more sympathy, but that does not appear to be the case.

I do not know all the facts. I will review the situation, but it looked to me as though this was a standard review that had been done by someone and the report was made. Whether it was at the request of the commission or some other person, I do not know, but normally party finances are not the administrative responsibility of the Government even where there is a case of Government moneys having been paid to the party for some reason or another. That is why I disallowed the question.

We have had a lot of questions on whether Government funds were properly expended, but that was not the question the hon. Member asked. It was about the internal affairs of the party and for that reason I ruled the question out of order. She was not the only one who had that misfortune today.

I will review the matter and get to the back to the House should I feel that my ruling was incorrect. I will let her know accordingly.