Privilege / Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous; committees; interference by a Parliamentary Secretary

Debates p. 1321

Background

Rising on a question of privilege, Mr. Baldwin (Peace River) objected to the contents of a letter on committee reports and estimates written by Mr. Reid (Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Privy Council) to committee chairmen. The letter purported to offer guidance on the nature of such reports, guidance that Mr. Baldwin described as "fantastic", and claimed to be based on previous rulings of the Chair. Without proposing a motion, Mr. Baldwin concluded by finding it "absolutely unforgivable that a Member of this House who happens. to have a semi-official or official position with the Government ... should undertake to dictate to chairmen of standing committees ... what they should not allow to be discussed or included in the reports of those committees". Mr. Reid, speaking in reply, stated that he had been approached by several chairmen to examine the rulings of the Chair to determine the proper role of committees in considering estimates and had circulated his letter to all chairmen whatever their political party. The Speaker intervened with his decision after several brief exchanges among the Members.

Issue

Are communications between a Parliamentary Secretary and committee chairmen offering guidelines on committee proceedings which are based on an interpretation of Speaker's rulings, a breach of parliamentary privilege?

Decision

This is not a question of privilege.

Reasons given by the Speaker

There should be no attempt to clarify a ruling which was made on another occasion because that would not be according to well-established practice. The matter will be allowed to stand where it is now. In any event, no motion has been proposed for consideration and the matter should not be pursued further.

References

Debates, April 10, 1974, pp. 1319-21.