House of Commons Procedure and Practice
Edited by Robert Marleau and Camille Montpetit
2000 Edition — More information …
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[351] 
Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, Minutes, October 21, 1997, Meeting No. 2.
[352] 
See, for example, Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, Minutes, October 28, 1998, Meeting No. 38, and November 17, 1998, Meeting No. 41.
[353] 
Standing Committee on Health, Minutes, October 30, 1997, Meeting No. 2.
[354] 
Committees routinely pay travel, accommodation and living expenses of witnesses (see Financial Policy Manual for Committees, Section C-6, Witness Expenses).
[355] 
Standing Committee on Health, Minutes, October 30, 1997, Meeting No. 2.
[356] 
Standing Order 32(4) requires all government documents to be tabled in both official languages. Section 4 of the Official Languages Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. 31(4th Supp.)) and section 17 of the Constitution Act, 1982 (R.S.C. 1985, Appendix II, No. 44, Schedule B) give everyone the right to use either English or French in their dealings with Parliament.
[357] 
Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Minutes, November 6, 1997, Meeting No. 5.
[358] 
Standing Committee on Human Resources and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Minutes, October 8, 1997, Meeting No. 1.
[359] 
See, for example, Standing Committee on Communications and Culture, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, December 17, 1987, Issue No. 73, p. 4.
[360] 
Standing Committee on Industry, Minutes, October 2, 1997, Meeting No. 1.
[361] 
Members of the House of Commons who are not members of the committee ordinarily withdraw, although they may remain with the committee’s consent. See, for example, Standing Committee on Regional Industrial Expansion, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, May 6, 1987, Issue No. 13, p. 3.
[362] 
See, for example, Standing Committee on Labour, Employment and Immigration, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, January 26, 1988, Issue No. 49, p. 3.
[363] 
Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Minutes, November 6, 1997, Meeting No. 5.
[364] 
Standing Order 111(4) provides that the Minister nominating a person to an Order-in-Council position will supply the committee, to which the nomination is referred, with a copy of the nominee’s curriculum vitae on request.
[365] 
Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, Minutes, October 21, 1997, Meeting No. 2.
[366] 
Committees have varied in their use of notice requirements. In some cases notice has been required for any substantive motion, in others only for new business, unrelated to the subject before the committee at any given time. See, for example, Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Minutes, October 21, 1997, Meeting No. 2, and Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament, Minutes, October 28, 1997, Meeting No. 1.
[367] 
Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Minutes, November 6, 1997, Meeting No. 5.
[368] 
Other motions used occasionally include: the purchase of documents (see, for example, Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Minutes, November 6, 1997, Meeting No. 5); the holding of meetings by videoconference (see, for example, Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Minutes, October 30, 1997, Meeting No. 2); the adoption of a general meeting schedule for the committee (see, for example, Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Minutes, October 21, 1997, Meeting No. 3); and working arrangements for lengthy meetings, such as the provision of lunches (see, for example, Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Minutes, November 6, 1997, Meeting No. 5). Joint committees must deal with a number of routine matters which are not applicable to standing, legislative and special committees of the House: quorum, times of meeting (see Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages, Minutes, October 21, 1997, Meeting No. 1) and mandate (see Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, March 24, 1994, Issue No. 1, pp. 4-6 and 9-10).
[369]
These include, for example, the salaries of committee staff, costs associated with committee meeting rooms, and the production of Minutes and Evidence. Translation and interpretation services for committees are provided through the Department of Public Works and Government Services. Library of Parliament research staff assigned to committees are paid by the Library (except those permanently assigned to the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, who are paid by the Committee).
[370] 
Project budgets cover such items as witness expenses, report production, consulting contracts, advertising and media relations, temporary administrative support staff, videoconferences and other miscellaneous items, including hospitality expenses. Full details of budgeting are found in the Financial Policy Manual for Committees, Chapter B-2, “Preparation of Workplan and Budget”.
[371] 
See, for example, Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Minutes, November 17, 1997, Meeting No. 5.
[372] 
Standing Order 121(1).
[373] 
Standing Orders 107(1) and 121(2).
[374] 
See, for example, Standing Committee on Finance, Minutes, October 7, 1997, Meeting No. 2.
[375] 
Board of Internal Economy By-law 401, Committee Finance and Administration By-law.
[376] 
See, for example, Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages, Minutes, February 11, 1999, Meeting No. 19.
[377] 
See, for example, Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access, Minutes, February 23, 1998, Meeting No. 5.
[378] 
Standing Order 108. Prior to 1986, standing committees received no general mandate from the Standing Orders. They met and began their work once the House had referred a specific matter to them. See Journals, February 6, 1986, pp. 1644-66, in particular pp. 1660-2; February 13, 1986, p. 1710.
[379] 
Standing Order 32(5).
[380] 
Standing Order 81(4) and (5).
[381] 
Standing Orders 110 and 32(6).
[382] 
Standing Orders 73(1) to (3) and 141(1).
[383] 
See, for example, Journals, October 1, 1997, pp. 57-9; October 2, 1997, pp. 67-8; March 1, 1999, pp. 1545-6; March 5, 1999, pp. 1563-4; March 10, 1999, p. 1592.
[384] 
A number of statutes contain provisions requiring that they be reviewed by committees. See Legislative Counsel Office, List of Reports and Returns to be made to the House of Commons, 1997, pp. 58-9. As with the Standing Orders, statutes do not identify the particular committee to be charged with the review; this decision is left to the House at the time that the review is begun. See, for example, Canada Business Corporations Act, S.C. 1994, c. 24, s. 33, and Journals, October 1, 1997, p. 55.
[385] 
The motion establishing a special committee usually deals with a number of other matters in addition to the subject of the committee’s study: the powers of the committee, its membership and quorum. See, for example, Journals, October 1, 1997, pp. 59-61.
[386] 
Standing Order 108(4).
[387] 
Senate Rule 86(1) provides only for the striking of the standing joint committees and indicates the number of Senators who should be named to each one. It gives no indication of each committee’s mandate.
[388] 
Committee reports which go beyond the committee’s order of reference have been ruled out of order by Speakers. See, for example, Debates, June 29, 1983, pp. 26943-4; February 28, 1985, pp. 2602-3.
[389] 
See Speaker Lamoureux’s ruling, Debates, December 20, 1973, pp. 774-5.
[390] 
Standing Order 108(2).
[391] 
See, for example, Journals, June 21, 1995, p. 1827 (substantive report on employment equity), and September 25, 1995, p. 1940 (Bill C-64, An Act respecting employment equity).
[392] 
See, for example, Journals, June 29, 1983, p. 6116.
[393] 
See, for example, Journals, June 22, 1994, p. 655.
[394] 
Standing Order 68(4)(a) and (b). See, for example, Journals, October 30, 1997, p. 175. For further information on instructions, see Chapter 16, “The Legislative Process”.
[395]
See Chapter 12, “The Process of Debate”, and Chapter 13, “Rules of Order and Decorum”.
[396] 
Standing Order 116.
[397] 
Although the Speaker will not normally intervene in committee matters in the absence of a report from the committee, this does not extend to circumstances where committees exceed the powers delegated to them. During the First Session of the Thirty-Fifth Parliament (1994-96), the Chair of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development permitted a Member who was neither a member nor an associate member of the Committee to substitute for one of its associate members. Speaker Parent ruled that a standing committee does not have the authority to establish or modify its own membership, including its associate membership; this power is retained by the House under Standing Order 104(4). See ruling in Debates, June 20, 1994, pp. 5582-4.
[398] 
See, for example, Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Minutes, October 19, 1998, Meeting No. 87.
[399]
See section above, “Routine Motions”.
[400] 
See, for example, Standing Committee on Industry, Minutes, March 23, 1999, Meeting No. 104. In 1990, following a lengthy examination of Bill C-62, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act, the Criminal Code, the Customs Act, the Customs Tariff, the Excise Act, the Income Tax Act, the Statistics Act, and the Tax Court of Canada Act, the Chair of the Finance Committee unilaterally terminated debate on a motion to limit further debate and set out a schedule allotting time for the remainder of the Committee’s consideration of the Bill. The Chair’s decision was appealed and sustained by the Committee. (See Standing Committee on Finance, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, March 19, 1990, Issue No. 103, pp. 6-9.) In a ruling on a question of privilege related to the Committee Chair’s action, Speaker Fraser refused to intervene in the affairs of the Committee and cautioned that, when placing limits on their proceedings, committees are responsible for adhering to the normal procedural means and are expected not to behave in an arbitrary manner. (See Speaker Fraser’s ruling, Debates, March 26, 1990, pp. 9756-8.) The Committee subsequently made a report to the House outlining its concerns about the manner in which debate had been limited and asking that the matter be referred to the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections. The House concurred in the report (see Journals, April 30, 1990, pp. 1612-3). After study, the Privileges and Elections Committee suggested that Standing Order 78 (time allocation) was the appropriate vehicle to use when proposing a limit on committee consideration of a bill. See Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, March 14, 1991, Issue No. 41, pp. 3-18, and Journals, March 20, 1991, p. 2727.

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