The presentation of reports and returns is one method by which the House obtains information. The Standing Orders state that at the beginning of each session of Parliament the Clerk of the House shall have a list printed and delivered to all Members of the "reports or other periodical statements which it is the duty of any officer or department of the government, or any bank or other corporate body to make to the House, referring to the Act or resolution, and page of the volume of the laws or Journals wherein the same may be ordered; and placing under the name of each officer or corporation a list of reports or returns required to be made, and the time when the report or periodical statement may be expected". Reports and returns are presented to the House by either the Minister responsible for providing the information (or by the Minister's Parliamentary Secretary) or, in certain cases, by the Speaker. Tabling is done voluntarily, on the initiative of the Minister or the Speaker, or by obligation which may be imposed in a number of ways. The House may obtain reports and returns only under the following conditions:
By Act of Parliament: That is, a statute requires that certain reports, accounts and other documents be laid before Parliament, often setting forth the specific circumstances for tabling. For example, the statutes require Ministers to table annual reports of the departments, agencies and commissions which fall under their administrative responsibilities. Also, various statutes identify the Speaker as the individual through whom reports are to be laid before the House. Reports tabled under such provisions include, among others, those of the Chief Electoral Officer, the Auditor General, the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Access to Information Commissioner and the Privacy Commissioner.
By Address to the Crown: This includes correspondence between the federal and other governments; Orders in Council; and papers concerning the administration of justice, the judicial conduct of judges and the exercise of the prerogatives of the Crown.
By Order of the House: That is, the House orders the tabling of reports and returns concerning matters directly related to federal departments or business of the House. Information from any department constituted or regulated by statute is generally obtained by means of an order.
By command of the Governor General: Reports have been tabled in the House by command of the Governor General, although this practice has not been followed recently.
By Standing Order: The Standing Orders provide that the tabling of certain reports is the responsibility of either the Speaker or, in certain cases, of the Government. For example, the Speaker must table a report of the proceedings of the Board of Internal Economy; the Government, when so requested by a committee, must table a response to a report within 150 days of its presentation. A similar Standing Order applies to petitions: the Government must reply within 45 days to every petition referred to it. Further, pursuant to another Standing Order, a Minister must table a certified copy of every Order in Council appointment to a non-judicial post. The same Standing Order permits a Minister, at his or her discretion, to table a certificate nominating an individual to a non-judicial post.
Tabling by the Government
Tabling of reports and returns which are the responsibility of the Government is done either by obligation, as described above, or voluntarily.
Where the voluntary presentation of papers is governed by the Standing Orders, a Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary may state in the House that he or she proposes to table a report or paper dealing with a matter coming within the administrative responsibilities of the Government.
One method of presenting information by Order of the House is through a provision in the Standing Orders which states that private Members may request written information from the Government by placing a notice on the Order Paper under the heading "Notices of Motions for the Production of Papers", called on Wednesdays after Routine Proceedings. These notices of motions are moved and decided without debate or amendment and, if carried, become Orders of the House. However, should the Member proposing it or a Minister of the Crown wish the matter to be debated, the motion is transferred to "Notices of Motions (Papers)". Subsequent debate on a motion for the production of papers will take place during Private Members' Business Hour and may last a total of one hour and thirty minutes, at the end of which a Minister may speak for not more than five minutes (even if he or she has already spoken) and the mover may close the debate by speaking for not more than five minutes. If the motion is not withdrawn, the Speaker then puts the question; if carried, it too becomes an Order of the House.
The obligatory presentation of information is also covered by a provision in the Standing Orders whereby material required to be tabled by the Government may become an automatic Order of the House. The Standing Orders permit Ministers to reply to questions on the Order Paper in the form of returns. If the Minister feels the reply should be in the form of a return and has no objection to tabling it, the reply is deemed an Order of the House and is entered in the Journals as such.
Standing Orders also provide that Orders and Addresses of the House for returns or papers are not nullified by a prorogation of the House, but shall be brought down during the following session, without renewal.
The Standing Orders provide that any document required to be tabled may be deposited with the Clerk and so deemed to have been presented; the Journals for that day will carry the appropriate entry.
