Acknowledgements
As the Senior Editors of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Robert Marleau and I take great pride
in this comprehensive study of Canadian parliamentary jurisprudence. As hard as some have laboured on
this project, it must be pointed out that this book is the culmination of several years of work by many
talented, experienced and dedicated people. I wish to acknowledge their efforts in bringing this
milestone project to fruition.
I particularly wish to salute Debra Manojlovic Ford, Joann Garbig and Johan Fong who assiduously worked
on this project from the laborious beginnings in 1993 to the rewarding end in 1999. I also want to give
special thanks to an esteemed colleague, Deputy Principal Clerk Michael Lukyniuk, who, for the last two
years, was responsible for the management of all the resources assigned to this project. His
contribution to the final stages of the drafting and editing of the English and French texts was
crucial in meeting the production deadlines.
It all began in earnest in late 1993. The planning of this project commenced in the Table Research
Branch of the House of Commons under the direction of Principal Clerk Audrey O’Brien and Deputy
Principal Clerks Marc Bosc and Marie-Andrée Lajoie, with the support of Deputy Clerk Mary Anne Griffith.
The planning exercise involved several aspects, among them: the creation of chapter outlines, the
identification of research methodology, and the collection of research material. Joann Garbig, Suzanne
Kinsman and Debra Manojlovic Ford were the key procedural researchers involved in this early phase of
the project.
By early 1996, several rough drafts of chapters had been written by the team of Joann Garbig, Debra
Manojlovic Ford, John Phillips and Pat Steenberg under the direction of Deputy Principal Clerk David
Gussow. As the project advanced, I became more directly involved, as one of the Senior Editors, in
reviewing the texts and providing procedural feedback and criticism on substance and form. Terry Moore
was asked to assist in the review exercise. With the impending retirement of David Gussow, Deputy
Principal Clerk Michael Lukyniuk took over direction of the team in late 1997 and saw the project to
completion.
By this time, the work had advanced to the point where chapters were being sent to the Clerk of the
House for review and publication objectives were being set. In order to meet the approaching deadline
of February 2000, additional researcher-writers were added to the team: Wayne Cole, Diane Deschamps,
Jean-Jacques Gariépy, Patrice Martin and Terry Moore; in addition to their other duties, some
procedural clerks in other services were asked to assist in the drafting of specific chapters: Deputy
Principal Clerk Marc Bosc, Monique Hamilton and Beverley Isles; still others were asked for assistance
in research support: Paulette Nadeau and Suzanne Verville, as well as administrative assistant Fiona
Bladon. The unstinting work on the inputting, revising and formatting of the text by Johan Fong,
assisted later by Dany Lamarque, has been a tremendous boost throughout the life of this project.
Besides researching and writing, this project involved other resources. The indexing in both languages
was undertaken by the dedicated team in the Index Service of the House under the direction of Michel
Boileau. The Translation Bureau assigned a team of seasoned translators to handle the heavy demands of
the project under the supervision of Dominique Chauvaux: Ghislain Dion, Jacques Dubé, Laurent Fillion,
Patricia Galbraith, Frèdelin Leroux Jr. and Denis Samson. In keeping with its reputation, the Library
of Parliament provided a prompt and efficient service in responding to our numerous requests for
reference material. English and French texts were reviewed in the Table Research Branch by Pierre
Couture and Diane Deschamps before being sent to the publisher. Aspects relating to the production of
the book — finance, relations with the publisher, arrangements for indexing, and distribution — were
handled by Diane Diotte and Lucile McGregor under the supervision of Deputy Principal Clerk Eric Janse.
Such a project also required a corporate commitment and contribution from various services of the House
of Commons. Of great use to the project were written documents and reference material from the
following branches: Legal Services, Curator’s Services, Committees and Legislative Services, Financial
Services and the Table Research Branch. In addition, logistical support was regularly provided by the
House Proceedings and Parliamentary Exchanges Directorate. Throughout this project, valuable
information and advice were received from procedural clerks not directly involved in researching or
writing; workloads may also have been increased for others because colleagues were given special
assignments on this project. The indirect contribution of these individuals is much appreciated.
A number of “strangers” [1] also made important contributions to this project and I wish to take this
opportunity to thank Judith A. LaRocque and Anthony P. Smyth from the Office of the Secretary to the
Governor General, Antonine Campbell from the Office of the Auditor General, and Judy Charles from the
Office of the Chief Electoral Officer for reviewing portions of the text.
Though “strangers” in the parliamentary sense of the term but certainly no strangers to the world of
parliamentary procedure, two other truly professional individuals were key contributors to the editing
phase of the manual. Both Lynda Chapin, a former public servant with practical knowledge and experience
in parliamentary affairs, and Queen’s University Professor C.E.S. Franks, a recognized authority in
Canada’s parliamentary system, gave us invaluable feedback and provided an essential service in
pointing out minor and not-so-minor errors and omissions. I wish to thank them for having read the
entire manuscript with such close attention and for providing concrete suggestions on how it could be
improved.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge the special contribution of the Clerk of the House who, after setting
the daring publication date of February 2000, gave his full support to the resourcing requirements and,
despite the many claims on his time, managed to fully respect the deadlines which the team imposed for
the final review of the draft chapters.
A work of this kind requires vision and a long-term commitment since it attempts to encapsulate the
wisdom of generations of parliamentarians. The participants in this project were well aware of the
dimensions of this daunting task and they are to be congratulated on having produced such a fine record.
As is the usual practice with publications of this nature, any errors or omissions in the text remain
the responsibility of the Senior Editors.
Camille Montpetit
Deputy Clerk of the House of Commons
September 1999