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Monday, April 20, 2020

"That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the House:

h) a special committee on the COVID-19 pandemic shall be established, composed of all members of the House, and which shall meet for the purposes of

(i) considering ministerial announcements,

(ii) allowing members to present petitions,

(iii) questioning ministers of the Crown, including the Prime Minister, in respect of the COVID-19 pandemic, provided that

(iv) during the period the House stands adjourned pursuant to this order and commencing on Tuesday, April 28, 2020, the committee shall meet at noon every Tuesday and Wednesday and, commencing on Thursday, May 7, 2020, the committee shall also meet at noon every Thursday, provided that the committee shall not meet on a day referred to in Standing Order 28(1),

(v) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the committee shall meet by videoconference and members shall participate by videoconference and on Wednesdays, the committee shall meet in the chamber and members shall participate in person, provided that meetings by videoconference shall be subject by such limits as the House Administration may indicate are necessary,

(vi) the Speaker shall be the chair of the committee,

(vii) seven members shall constitute a quorum,

(viii) ministerial announcements shall be considered at the opening of the meeting and the proceedings shall be conducted in the same manner as Statements by Ministers under Standing Order 33(1), provided that a member of the Green Party also be permitted to reply to the statement,

(ix) after any ministerial announcements, any member desiring to present a petition may do so during a period not exceeding 15 minutes, provided that the provisions of Standing Order 36 shall apply, except for Standing Order 36(5), and any petition presented shall be deemed for all purposes to have been presented to the House,

(x) after any ministerial announcements and the presentation of petitions, proceedings on questioning ministers shall be conducted, for not more than 90 minutes on a Tuesday or a Thursday and for not more than two hours and 15 minutes on a Wednesday, in the same manner as provided for in paragraph (d), provided that questions shall be answered by ministers,

(xi) upon the conclusion of proceedings on questioning ministers on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the committee shall adjourn to the next day provided for in subparagraph (iv),

(xii) upon the conclusion of proceedings on questioning ministers on Wednesdays, the committee shall consider a motion “That the committee take note of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic” for not more than two hours and 10 minutes, provided that each recognized party shall be allotted 30 minutes for debate which may be shared among members of that party and a total of 10 minutes shall be allotted for debate by members who do not belong to a recognized party and at the conclusion of the time provided or when no member wishes to speak, whichever is earlier, the committee shall adjourn to the next day provided for in subparagraph (iv), provided that, if the House sits on a Wednesday pursuant to paragraph (i) of this order, the committee shall adjourn upon the conclusion of proceedings on questioning ministers,

(xiii) if the Speaker receives a notice from the House leaders of all four recognized parties indicating that it is in the public interest that the committee remain adjourned until a future date or until future notice is given to the Speaker, the committee will remain adjourned accordingly,

(xiv) meetings of the committee shall be televised, following the usual practices observed for sittings of the House,

(xv) any document may be presented by a minister of the Crown, or a parliamentary secretary acting on behalf of a minister, at any time during a meeting of the committee and shall be deemed for all purposes to have been presented to or laid before the House,

(xvi) the committee shall have the power to sit while the House stands adjourned and to print, from day to day, such papers and evidence as may be ordered by them,

(xvii) upon the resumption of regular sittings of the House, the committee shall cease to exist,

(xviii) following the report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs pursuant to its order of reference of Saturday, April 11, 2020, the House leaders of all four recognized parties may indicate to the Speaker that there is an agreement among the parties to implement one or several of the recommendations of the committee and the Speaker shall give effect to that agreement; […]”

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

"That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the House:

[…] (h) the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic, composed of all members of the House, be continued provided that the committee meet for the purposes of

(i) considering ministerial announcements,

(ii) allowing members to present petitions,

(iii) allowing members to make statements,

(iv) questioning ministers of the Crown, including the Prime Minister, in respect of the COVID-19 pandemic and other matters, and provided that

(v) during the period the House stands adjourned pursuant to this order, the committee shall meet at noon every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, provided that the committee shall not meet on a day referred to in Standing Order 28(1),

(vi) the committee shall meet in the chamber and members may participate either in person or by videoconference,

(vii) the Speaker shall continue to be the Chair of the committee,

(viii) seven members shall constitute a quorum,

(ix) ministerial announcements shall be considered at the opening of the meeting and the proceedings shall be conducted in the same manner as Statements by Ministers under Standing Order 33(1), provided that a member of the Green Party also be permitted to reply to the statement,

(x) after any ministerial announcements, any member desiring to present a petition may do so during a period not exceeding 15 minutes, provided that the provisions of Standing Order 36 shall apply, except for Standing Order 36(5), and any petition presented shall be deemed for all purposes to have been presented to the House,

(xi) after the presentation of petitions, members may make statements in a manner similar to those made pursuant to Standing Order 31 for a period not exceeding 15 minutes,

(xii) after members’ statements, proceedings on questioning of ministers shall be conducted, for not more than 95 minutes, in the same manner provided for in paragraph (d) of the order adopted on Monday, April 20, 2020, provided that the rotation used for questions pursuant to this subparagraph be the one used by the committee on Tuesdays and Thursdays prior to the adoption of this order and that questions shall be answered by ministers,

(xiii) upon the conclusion of proceedings on questioning of ministers, the committee shall adjourn to the next day provided for in subparagraph (v),

(xiv) if the Speaker receives a notice from the House leaders of all four recognized parties indicating that it is in the public interest that the committee remain adjourned until a future date or until future notice is given to the Speaker, the committee will remain adjourned accordingly,

(xv) meetings of the committee shall continue to be televised, following the usual practices observed for sittings of the House,

(xvi) any document may be presented by a minister of the Crown, or a parliamentary secretary acting on behalf of a minister, at any time during a meeting of the committee and shall be deemed for all purposes to have been presented to or laid before the House,

(xvii) the committee shall have the power to sit while the House stands adjourned and to print, from day to day, such papers and evidence as may be ordered by them,

(xviii) the committee shall cease to exist upon its adjournment on Thursday, June 18, 2020; […]”