Financial Procedures / Royal recommendation

Financial initiative of the Crown: Senate bill argued to require the expenditure of funds; right of the House to grant supply

October 29, 2003

Debates, pp. 8899-8900

On October 22, 2003, Jim Abbott (Kootenay–Columbia) rose on a point of order at the commencement of debate on Bill S-7, An Act to protect heritage lighthouses, standing on the Order Paper in the name of Gerald Keddy (South Shore), to challenge the propriety of the Bill.^[1] Mr. Abbott stated that, because the Bill could require the owners of heritage lighthouses to spend funds to maintain them, the financial prerogative of the Crown and the precedence of the House of Commons in financial matters did not allow such a bill to originate in the Senate. After hearing from Don Boudria (Minister of State and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons), the Acting Speaker (Réginald Bélair) took the matter under advisement.^[2]

The Speaker delivered his ruling on October 29, 2003. He stated that the Bill did not require a royal recommendation and that since there was no obligation for public expenditure, the Bill could, therefore, originate in the Senate. He also reminded Members that the rules of the House require that all bills providing for the expenditure of public funds, including items of Private Members’ Business, originate in the House and not in the Senate.

Decision of the Chair

The Speaker: I am now prepared to rule on the point of order raised by the hon. Member for Kootenay–Columbia concerning whether Bill S-7, the Heritage Lighthouses Preservation Bill, violates the financial prerogative of the Crown and the precedence of the House of Commons with respect to financial legislation.

I would like to thank the hon. Member for Kootenay–Columbia for having raised this important matter. I would like also to thank the hon. Government House Leader for his remarks on the issue.

I would remind hon. Members that the hon. Member for Kootenay–Columbia indicated at the beginning of his intervention that he is a supporter of this Bill. The question that has been raised is of a procedural nature only and does not deal with the desirability of the Bill as public policy.

The hon. Member for Kootenay–Columbia pointed out that the Constitution Act, 1867 requires that a bill requiring the expenditure of funds be introduced first in the House of Commons and that it be accompanied by a royal recommendation. Bill S-7, as its number indicates, originated in the Senate.

He also cited the following passage from page 711 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice:

—private Members’ bills involving the spending of public money have been allowed to be introduced and to proceed through the legislative process on the assumption that a royal recommendation would be submitted by a Minister of the Crown before the bill was read a third time and passed.

The hon. Member also drew the attention of the House to clause 17 of the Bill which reads:

The owner of a heritage lighthouse shall maintain it in a reasonable state of repair and in a manner that is in keeping with its heritage character.

He went on to indicate that, while the Bill contains no provision directly requiring that money be spent, it seemed unreasonable in his view that the maintenance of lighthouses would be possible without the expenditure of funds.

The hon. Government House Leader in his intervention underlined the fact that the Bill does not expend any public money. He also pointed out that this House has previously approved similar legislation, the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act, adopted in 1988. He noted that the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act, which operates in a way similar to that proposed in Bill S-7, had not required a royal recommendation.

I will remind the House at the outset that it is outside the responsibilities of the Speaker to pronounce on questions of constitutional law. However, the requirement that bills expending public funds be accompanied by a royal recommendation is also found in Standing Order 79, which states:

This House shall not adopt or pass any vote, resolution, address or bill for the appropriation of any part of the public revenue, or any tax or impost, to any purpose that has not been first recommended to the House by a message from the Governor General in the session in which such vote, resolution, address or bill is proposed.

As Speaker, it is my obligation to ensure that the provisions of the Standing Orders are followed. It is important to remember, however, that the requirement for a royal recommendation relates to the expenditure of public funds and not simply to the fact that someone, somehow or other, may be required to make an expenditure as a result of a provision in the Bill.

In the present case the question is, I think, straightforward. Both the hon. Member for Kootenay–Columbia and the Government House Leader are in agreement that the Bill does not immediately require the expenditure of public funds. Any funds that may be required to comply with clause 17 of the Bill will be required of the owners of lighthouses only once those lighthouses have been designated as heritage lighthouses.

After examining the Bill, I can find no obligation for the spending of public funds either by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board or by the Minister of Canadian Heritage. As there is no obligation for public expenditure created by the passage of Bill S-7, there is no need for a royal recommendation.

I would also like to take this opportunity to correct a possible misapprehension that hon. Members may have concerning the royal recommendation and private Members’ bills.

The passage cited by the hon. Member for Kootenay–Columbia from page 711 of… House of Commons Procedure and Practice indicates that a royal recommendation must be forthcoming before a private Member’s bill, which requires the expenditure of public funds, can be given third reading. This provision only applies to private Members’ bills in the narrow sense, that is, bills which originate with private Members in the House of Commons.

While Bill S-7 is being dealt with under the provisions of Private Members’ Business, it is a bill originating in the Senate. Standing Order 80(1) states:

All aids and supplies granted to the Sovereign by the Parliament of Canada are the sole gift of the House of Commons, and all bills for granting such aids and supplies ought to begin with the House, as it is the undoubted right of the House to direct, limit, and appoint in all such bills, the ends, purposes, considerations, conditions, limitations and qualifications of such grants, which are not alterable by the Senate.

Although in the present case there are no grounds for invoking this Standing Order, hon. Members should be mindful of the fact that our rules do not permit Senate bills which require the expenditure of public funds. Items of Private Members’ Business which require a royal recommendation must originate in the House of Commons.

I would like to thank the hon. Member for Kootenay–Columbia for having raised this issue. The precedence of the House of Commons in financial matters and the need to safeguard the financial prerogative of the Crown are fundamental elements of our system of parliamentary Government. As Speaker, I share the concern of all Members that our financial rules be strictly respected.

See Debates, June 20, 2005 for a similar ruling concerning Bill S-14, An Act to protect heritage lighthouses.