21. Private Members’ Business

Private Members’ Business is considered for one hour every sitting day. ^[102]  At the beginning of a session, Private Members’ Business is suspended until an order of precedence and a list of votable items have been established. ^[103]  Once this has occurred, the consideration of Private Members’ Business begins the following day.

The Speaker must give Members at least 24 hours’ notice before an item on the order of precedence can be considered. This notice is published in the Notice Paper. ^[104]  During Private Members’ Hour, items on the order of precedence are considered in the order in which they are listed and normally only one item is considered each day. ^[105] 

If the sponsor of an item is unable to move his or her motion on the day set by the order of precedence and has given the Speaker at least 48 hours’ written notice, the Speaker may arrange to exchange the position of the sponsor’s item with that of another Member in the order of precedence, with the permission of the Members involved. ^[106]  The Speaker consults with Members and finds a date that is agreeable to two Members. Members sponsoring items on which debate has previously begun may not request an exchange but may agree to a request for exchange from another sponsoring Member. If no exchange is possible, Private Members’ Hour is suspended for that day, the House continues with the business before it, ^[107]  and the Member’s item is consequently dropped to the bottom of the order of precedence. ^[108]  On Monday, the House takes up Government Orders during that hour. ^[109] 

Although Private Members’ Hour is regularly scheduled for each day that the House sits, there are some situations when it may be cancelled or suspended. The cancellation or suspension of the Hour has been a matter of concern to the House ever since the adoption of the modern rules relating to Private Members’ Business in 1986. ^[110] 

The consideration of Private Members’ Business may be cancelled or suspended for a number of reasons:

• Should the sponsor of an item set for consideration not be present to move the item or should the sponsor decline to move the item, Private Members’ Business is cancelled for that day; the Hour cannot be used for other business without the unanimous consent of the House.
• Should Members not have 24 hours’ notice of the item to be considered during Private Members’ Hour, the Speaker will advise the House that Private Members’ Business will be suspended for that day; the House will continue with, or revert to, the business before it prior to the time designated for Private Members’ Business. ^[111]  If the Member scheduled to move an item gives the required 48 hours’ written notice that he or she is unable to do so on the day scheduled, and no exchange of items is possible, the House also reverts to the business before it prior to Private Members’ Business. ^[112]  In both cases, when Private Members’ Business is suspended on Monday, the House takes up Government Orders during the time designated for Private Members’ Business. ^[113] 
• If proceedings under “Introduction of Government Bills” during Routine Proceedings have not been completed on a Tuesday or Thursday prior to Statements by Members, Routine Proceedings will continue immediately after Question Period until the completion of all items under “Introduction of Government Bills”, thereby suspending as much of Private Members’ Hour as necessary. ^[114] 
• Private Members’ Business is cancelled on any day designated for resuming debate on the Budget or the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. ^[115] 
• On the last Supply day in June, the consideration of Private Members’ Business is cancelled in order to allow more time to consider and dispose of the Main Estimates. ^[116] 
• Private Members’ Business will be cancelled when a Minister moves a motion in relation to a matter the government considers to be of an urgent nature, and debate subsequently takes place during the time scheduled for Private Members’ Business. ^[117]  If such a motion is moved during Private Members’ Hour, only the remaining time allotted for consideration of the item being debated is suspended. If the maximum one hour of debate allowed on the motion extends into Private Members’ Hour, then the beginning of Private Members’ Hour is delayed. ^[118] 
• As no emergency debate may be interrupted by Private Members’ Business, Private Members’ Hour would be cancelled if an emergency debate were to begin prior to the time scheduled for the consideration of Private Members’ Business. ^[119] 
• Private Members’ Business is suspended until an order of precedence and a list of votable items are established at the beginning of a session. ^[120] 
• Private Members’ Business is suspended when, during the course of a session, the House must proceed to the election of a new Speaker. ^[121] 
• Private Members’ Business, or the remainder thereof, is suspended when the House adjourns due to a lack of quorum. ^[122] 

If Private Members’ Hour is delayed or interrupted for any reason, the debate is then extended or rescheduled so that no time is lost. ^[123]  For example, if the start of Private Members’ Hour is delayed because of deferred divisions or interrupted so that Members may attend the Royal Assent ceremony in the Senate Chamber, Private Members’ Hour is extended by the corresponding amount of time. Similarly, when the time provided for Government Orders has been extended by 90 minutes or less because of a ministerial statement, the start of Private Members’ Hour will be delayed by a corresponding amount of time. ^[124]  If debate on Private Members’ Business does not begin or resume by 30 minutes after the time Private Members’ Business would have ordinarily ended, the remaining time or the entire hour is added to another sitting. ^[125] 

The rescheduling of any unused time of a Private Members’ Hour due to a delay or interruption is done at the discretion of the Speaker within 10 sitting days and after consultation with the Member involved. ^[126]  No more than one adjournment period as provided in the parliamentary calendar may intervene in the rescheduling of the debate. The rescheduled business is considered during an additional Private Members’ Hour, which is added to the daily schedule of the House.

The regular 24 hours’ notice of the item to be considered is given to the House. The notice is printed on the Notice Paper on the day the additional debate is to take place. ^[127]  The Order Paper entry referring to the rescheduled debate, or to a debate awaiting rescheduling, appears at the top of the list of “Items in the Order of Precedence”. ^[128]  The Standing Orders do not provide for an exchange between a Member whose item of business has been rescheduled and another Member who has an item on the order of precedence.

On days when Private Members’ Business has been rescheduled, the adjournment proceedings are delayed by the amount of time required to complete the rescheduled debate.