At 3:00 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at 12:00 noon on Fridays, the House proceeds (unless delayed by a question of privilege or a point of order) to the ordinary daily routine of business outlined in the Standing Orders. The Speaker calls each of the following headings of routine business in turn and recognizes those Members who are ready to proceed. Usually they will previously have indicated to the Chair or the Table their wish to raise an item under an appropriate heading.
7.(a) Tabling of Documents
This first item is called by the Speaker as a separate activity at the beginning of Routine Proceedings. Until 1968, a Minister had to obtain leave (usually under "Motions") to table a document unless required to table it by statute or Order of the House. Since 1968, the Standing Orders have provided that a Minister, or his or her Parliamentary Secretary, may table any report or paper so long as it deals with a matter within the administrative competence of the Government.
Moreover, since 1986 the Standing Orders require the Government to table a comprehensive response to a committee report within 150 days of its being tabled if the committee so requests. Such tabling is done by a Minister or his or her Parliamentary Secretary during "Tabling of Documents". Similarly, since 1986 the Standing Orders oblige the Government to table responses to petitions referred to it within 45 days, as well as announcements of nominees or appointees by Order in Council.
The tabling of documents can be done in two ways, often referred to as tabling "by the front door" and "by the back door".
Standing Order 32(1) states: "Any return, report or other paper required to be laid before the House in accordance with any Act of Parliament or in pursuance of any resolution or Standing Order of this House may be deposited with the Clerk of the House on any sitting day or, when the House stands adjourned, on the Wednesday following the fifteenth day of the month. Such return, report or other paper shall be deemed for all purposes to have been presented to or laid before the House." This is referred to as the "back door" method of tabling. When a return or report is presented pursuant to an Act, it is deemed permanently referred to the appropriate standing committee.
Standing Order 32(2) states: "A Minister of the Crown, or a Parliamentary Secretary acting on behalf of a Minister, may, in his or her place in the House, state that he or she proposes to lay upon the Table of the House, any report or other paper dealing with a matter coming within the administrative responsibilities of the government, and, thereupon, the same shall be deemed for all purposes to have been laid before the House." This method of tabling ("by the front door") is the item during Routine Proceedings that takes place when the Speaker calls "Tabling of Documents".
A Minister may choose to table a document which is required to be laid before the House (pursuant to Standing Order 32(1)) by either the "front door" or the "back door" method. Where a Minister is tabling a document on his or her own initiative, it must be tabled according to the provisions of Standing Order 32(2) or by the "front door".
If a Minister cites or quotes an official document in debate, he or she should be prepared to table it; however, a private Member has neither the right nor the obligation to table any document except by the unanimous consent of the House. The Standing Orders permit voluntary tabling only by Ministers or their Parliamentary Secretaries, who are under no obligation to present material requested by private Members (unless, as stated above, they are required to table material from which they have quoted).
7.(b) Statements by Ministers (and the Thursday Statement)
The Standing Orders allow but do not oblige a Minister to make a statement in the House during Routine Proceedings. The heading "Statements by Ministers" is of recent origin, though the House practice of receiving statements from Ministers has been well established for years. The Standing Orders provide that after a Minister's statement, the Speaker can determine (usually by apportioning equal time to all parties) the time for comments from opposition party spokesmen.
Changes to the Standing Orders in June 1985 and February 1986 eliminated the possibility of posing questions after a ministerial statement, and provided for the possibility of adjusting the schedule of the daily sitting to retain the total time reserved for Government Orders and Private Members' Business by extending, if necessary, the normal daily hour of adjournment.
The "Thursday Statement", as the name indicates, takes place each Thursday at the end of "Oral Questions", when the Government House Leader, usually in response to a question at this time from the Opposition, announces the government business to be considered in the succeeding week. (Until 1968 it had been the custom of the House Leader to announce at the close of each sitting the order of business for the following day, a practice still provided for in the Standing Orders.) The present procedure with respect to the Thursday Statement was announced by the Government House Leader on September 23, 1968. Since then, it has become the practice of the Chair, at the end of Oral Questions on Thursdays, to recognize the Opposition House Leader regarding the disposition of House business, followed if necessary by short questions for clarification.
The Thursday Statement is not referred to specifically by any Standing Order, nor is it considered a formal practice. It may simply be considered as a somewhat different type of ministerial statement, developed through tradition to its present form.
7.(c) Presenting Reports from Inter-parliamentary Delegations
This relatively new item, following changes to the Standing Orders in 1986, is called after "Statements by Ministers". The head of an inter-parliamentary delegation (or a Member acting on his or her behalf) presents to the House a report on the activities of the delegation within 20 sitting days of its return to Canada. The Standing Orders provide that the Member presenting the report may also give a brief summary of its subject-matter.
7.(d) Presenting Reports from Committees
Committees use the mechanism of reports to the House as a means of advising the House of their activities and decisions. Committees submit reports only on the following subjects: bills, routine or procedural matters, estimates and subject-matter inquiries, matters related to their Orders of Reference, the management and operations of relevant departments, and Order in Council appointments.
The Speaker calls "Presenting Reports from Committees". If a committee report is to be presented, the Chairman or, in his or her absence, a member of the committee, will rise to be recognized by the Chair, and state that he or she has "the honour to present the Report of the Standing (Legislative, Special or Joint) Committee on... ." He or she is then permitted to give a succinct explanation of the subject-matter of the report. In April 1991 the Standing Orders were amended to allow supplementary or dissenting opinions or recommendations to be appended. In such cases, a committee member of the Official Opposition may rise to provide a brief explanation of these. If the committee wishes a government response to its report, the request is made at this time. The related Minutes of Proceedings are also tabled.
A motion to concur in a report may be moved under "Motions", 48 hours after notice has been given. However, if concurrence is sought without notice by unanimous consent (usually because the report concerns the powers or sittings of the committee; for example, seeking an extension of its deadline or power to travel), the Chairman will state after presenting the report that he or she intends to move concurrence "later this day". Later, under "Motions", the Chairman rises and seeks unanimous consent to move concurrence, a motion which is debatable.
Until December 1981, the practice of the House was to print the text of all reports in the Journals. Now, only reports on committee membership changes and the selection of votable items for Private Members' Business are usually printed in the Journals. Other committee reports are printed in the committees' Minutes of Proceedings or as separate documents in the same format.
7.(e) Introduction of Government Bills
Prior to June 1987, all public bills sponsored either by the Government or private Members were introduced under the former heading "Introduction of Bills". Following amendments to the Standing Orders, that heading has now been divided into "Introduction of Government Bills" and "Introduction of Private Members' Bills". During Routine Proceedings, "Introduction of Government Bills" comes immediately after the presentation of committee reports and immediately before the Speaker calls "Introduction of Private Members' Bills". Under this item of business, public bills sponsored by the Government are listed in the Order Paper in chronological order, following a minimum of 48 hours' notice.
The Speaker reads the list, referring to Ministers by their respective responsibilities. When called, the Minister wishing to introduce the bill nods and the Speaker proposes the motion for leave to introduce the bill. While Standing Orders then permit the sponsor to give a succinct explanation of the provisions of the bill, in actual practice the explanation is given after the House has agreed to the question. A Minister introducing a bill does not usually take this opportunity to explain the measures. If he or she is not in the House or does not wish to introduce the bill when it is called, the bill stands on the Order Paper for introduction another day.
A motion for leave to introduce a bill is deemed carried, without debate, amendment or question put; discussion of the merits of the bill may take place on the motion for second reading.
Leave to introduce the bill having been given automatically, the Speaker proposes to the House that the bill be read a first time and be printed. This motion also is deemed carried, without debate, amendment or question put.
The Speaker states that the motion is carried and at once proceeds to ask: "When shall the bill be read a second time?" The answer is generally: "At the next sitting of the House". (The phrase "next sitting of the House", when used to state the time until which a question is ordered to stand over, means the future sitting at which this question shall come up according to the precedence given to it by the Standing Orders, the Government determining the order in which government legislation is called.) The bill is then placed on the Order Paper in its proper place for a second reading at a future time.
Amendments made to the Standing Orders in February 1994 outlined procedures by which a committee could be charged to prepare and bring in a bill. When such a committee concludes its study and reports to the House, concurrence in the committee's report is an order to bring in a bill based on the said report. When a Minister introduces a bill and, in proposing a motion for first reading, notes that the bill is in response to this order, second reading debate on this bill cannot begin until three sitting days after the bill receives first reading. A number of conventions and practices have been established to regulate the introduction of bills. First, no bill may be introduced in an incomplete form; should such a bill pass first reading, the Chair will order that any consideration given to it be declared null and void. Only when the full text is available may the Minister ask for leave to introduce it pursuant to the Standing Orders. Second, the Speaker, unless previously informed, will choose a seconder for the bill. However, that Member is not required to accept that responsibility. Finally, a bill standing in a Minister's name may be moved on his or her behalf by another Minister.
To ensure that the Government is not prevented in any way from introducing its legislation, the Standing Orders as amended in June 1987 now provide that the House must complete "Introduction of Government Bills" every day. If the heading is not completed by the ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the House continues to sit to complete all the headings under Routine Proceedings up to and including "Introduction of Government Bills", whereupon the Speaker adjourns the House.
7.(f) Introduction of Private Members' Bills
Any public bill sponsored by a Member who is not part of the Ministry may be introduced under this heading. The procedures here are exactly the same as for bills introduced by the Government under the previous heading: the notice period is the same; the Speaker reads the heading "Introduction of Private Members' Bills" from the Order Paper, and a Member wishing to introduce his or her bill nods to indicate a desire to proceed at that point. Leave to introduce having been automatically obtained, the Member is then permitted to give a succinct explanation of the bill's contents. The Speaker then proposes to the House that the bill be read a first time and printed. This motion is deemed carried without debate, amendment, or question put and the bill is then ordered for second reading and put on the Order Paper in its proper sequence.
The only significant differences between the procedures for this and for the introduction of bills sponsored by the Government are first, that bills introduced by private Members may not generally infringe upon the financial prerogative of the Crown; that is, they may not involve a tax, or a burden on the public treasury. Second, the Standing Orders do not provide that the House must complete all items under this heading every day. Third, while one Minister may move the introduction of a bill on behalf of another Minister, a private Member must be present in the House and move the introduction and various reading stages of a bill standing in his or her name.
7.(g) First Reading of Senate Public Bills
Under Routine Proceedings, "First Reading of Senate Public Bills" comes immediately after "Introduction of Private Members' Bills" and before "Motions". As soon as a Senate bill has been passed by the Senate, a message is sent so informing the House of Commons. The Speaker does not interrupt any business which is proceeding at the time, but announces the message, handed to him or her by the Clerk, at the first convenient opportunity.
The Speaker reads the message, stating: "I have the honour to report to the House that the Senate has sent a message advising that it has passed Bill S-..., An Act ... , and requests the concurrence of the House." Receipt of the message is equivalent to the House agreeing to leave for the introduction of the bill. The bill is then placed on the Order Paper under "First Reading of Senate Public Bills" in Routine Proceedings. If the Member (or Minister) sponsoring the bill in the House of Commons is not present, or desires not to move first reading of the bill, the Speaker usually assumes that the Government and the House wish it to stand, and proceeds accordingly. If the bill is not sponsored, no further action is taken. If the Member (or Minister) sponsoring the bill nods in agreement when called by the Chair, the question for first reading is put as follows: "That Bill S-..., An Act... , be now read a first time." Senate public bills are not printed again. The question is decided without debate, amendment or question put.
The Speaker then asks: "When shall the bill be read a second time? At the next sitting of the House?" This constitutes an order for second reading, which subsequently appears on the Orders of the Day under "Government Orders" if the bill is sponsored by a Minister of the Crown, and under "Private Members' Business" in the order of precedence if not.
The notice of first reading of a Senate public bill may be struck from the Order Paper if the bill infringes upon the royal prerogative in financial matters. Section 54 of the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Standing Orders state that the House shall not adopt or pass any vote, resolution, address or bill for the appropriation of any part of the public revenue that has not been first recommended to the House by a message from the Governor General; that is, by Royal Recommendation.
The Standing Orders further state that all measures for spending public funds or imposing taxes ought to originate in the House of Commons and are not alterable by the Senate. (The Senate, however, disputes part of the interpretation given to this rule.) Finally, the Standing Orders state that the House will not insist on this privilege when Senate public bills impose or alter pecuniary penalties "provided that all such penalties thereby imposed are only to punish or prevent crimes and offences, and do not tend to lay a burden on the subject, either as aid or supply to Her Majesty, or for any general or special purposes, by rates, tolls, assessments or otherwise".
7.(h) Motions
In the daily routine of business, the heading "Motions" immediately follows "First Reading of Senate Public Bills" and precedes "Presenting Petitions". The types of motions normally moved under "Motions" are those relating to the business of the House, usually moved by the Government, or those relating to the discussion of committee reports, usually moved by a private Member. The Standing Orders enumerate other types of motions that may be presented during Routine Proceedings: "such other motion, made upon Routine Proceedings, as may be required for the observance of the proprieties of the House, the maintenance of its authority, the appointment or conduct of its officers, the management of its business, the arrangement of its proceedings, the correctness of its records, the fixing of its sitting days or the times of its meeting or adjournment." The motions listed in this Standing Order and motions for the concurrence in a report of a standing or special committee are debatable.
When debate on any motion considered during Routine Proceedings is adjourned or interrupted, the order for resumption of the debate is transferred to Government Orders and considered in such sequence as the Government determines. If the Member (or Minister) who has given notice of motion is not in the House or does not wish to move it, the Speaker usually assumes that the overnment and the House wish it to stand, and acts accordingly.
The Standing Orders state that no notice is required for motions concerning "the times of meeting or adjournment of the House". Notice is required, however, if the motion to adjourn pertains to the days on which the House does not sit, although the House can suspend this notice requirement by unanimous consent. Such motions are usually considered as part of the daily routine of business under "Motions".
A new Standing Order was adopted in April 1991 which deals with routine motions whose presentation requires unanimous consent, but for which consent has been denied. When this occurs, a Minister may rise under "Motions" during Routine Proceedings and request that the motion be proposed. The question is then put, without debate or amendment. If fewer than 25 Members rise to object, the motion is adopted; otherwise the motion is deemed withdrawn.
Motions for concurrence in committee reports are usually listed (when the notice set out in the Standing Orders is required), called and disposed of under "Motions" on the Order Paper and Notice Paper. The notice of motion for concurrence in a committee report may be given and the motion moved by any Member of the House of Commons, although it is usually done by the chairman of the committee. Such a motion may be moved without prior notice with the unanimous consent of the House during the sitting in which it is presented. If unanimous consent is not given, the 48 hour notice rule then applies.
A motion to concur in the report of any committee on estimates or on the report of any committee dealing with a department's or agency's future expenditure plans and priorities may only be debated on one of the 20 allotted days. A motion to refer items in the Main Estimates or in Supplementary Estimates to standing committees is decided without debate or amendment and may be moved during Routine Proceedings by a Minister of the Crown. A motion to concur in the report of a committee which has been charged to prepare and bring in a bill will be considered under Government Orders, if moved by a Minister, and under Private Members' Business, if moved by a Private Member.
7.(i) Presenting Petitions
Members wishing to present petitions in the House do so during a period not to exceed fifteen minutes in Routine Proceedings after "Motions" and before "Questions on Order Paper" is called. A petition may also be presented simply by filing it with the Clerk at any time during a sitting.
Before being presented, a petition must be examined as to form and content and certified by the Clerk of Petitions. If the petition meets the requirements specified in the Standing Orders, the Member presenting the petition, after being recognized by the Chair, makes a brief statement to inform the House of the content of the petition; the petition itself is not read, and no speech may be made or argument presented in support of the petition; nor is debate allowed following the presentation of a petition. The Government is obliged to respond within 45 days to all petitions referred to it.
Various conditions also apply to the presentation of petitions. Aliens, not resident in Canada, have no right to petition Parliament; nor may ordinary citizens of Canada address the House directly -- their petitions must be dated, presented and endorsed (that is, signed on the reverse side) by a Member. No Member who has not taken the Oath of Allegiance or made a solemn Affirmation shall present a petition. A Member cannot be compelled to present a petition and no action may be taken against a Member for refusing to do so.
A number of conventions and practices have been established which further regulate the presentation of petitions. Because the Speaker may not take part in debates and may have to decide the regularity of petitions, he or she must use the services of another Member when asked by his or her constituents to present a petition on their behalf. Petitions on matters relating to the election of Members or involving a burden upon the public revenue or concerning a matter delegated by Parliament to another body cannot be received by the House. Any forgery or fraud in the preparation of petitions or signatures, or any complicity in or knowledge thereof, renders the perpetrator liable to punishment for breach of privilege; following a question of privilege, the House will act to consider and decide the offence.
7.(j) Questions on Order Paper
Following amendments to the Standing Orders adopted in June 1987, "Questions on Order Paper" is now included as the last heading under Routine Proceedings.
Members may pose questions to the Government either orally during Question Period, or in writing. If the question involves a lengthy, detailed or technical response, the Member gives 48 hours' written notice of his or her intention to ask such a question. In giving notice, the Member may also request an answer within 45 days, indicating as well if he or she wishes the answer to be given orally. After the notice requirement has been fulfilled, the question (or questions --each Member may have a maximum of four on the Order Paper at any one time) appears on the Order Paper. Since the questions tend to accumulate faster than they can be answered, a list of all outstanding questions is available at the Table in the House for consultation by Members.
When "Questions on Order Paper" is called during Routine Proceedings, a Parliamentary Secretary rises in his or her place to announce which question(s) the Government intends to answer on that particular day. Should it choose to do so, the Government may answer written questions in one of two ways. First, the Parliamentary Secretary simply indicates to the House the number (or numbers) of the question(s) being answered, and the text of the answer appears in the Debates of that day as if the Minister to whom the question was directed had actually stood in the House and given a full reply.
The second method is that the Government may request the House to make a certain question an "order for return"; that is, that the House order the Government to table a return which will serve as a response to the question. When this occurs, the tabled response is filed with the Clerk as a Sessional Paper, open to public scrutiny; the text does not, however, appear in the Debates.
If a Member has requested that question be answered within 45 days and it remains unanswered after that time, he or she may rise during "Questions on Order Paper" and give notice of his or her intention to raise this matter during the adjournment proceedings of the House. The question is then removed from the Order Paper.
Upon concluding Routine Proceedings, which often takes only 15 minutes, the House then proceeds to the consideration of the order of business for the sitting.
