SMIP Committee Report

NOTICE OF OPPOSITION DAY MOTIONS

37.   We propose that notice of Opposition Day motions be provided by the beginning of the previous sitting day – by 11:00 a.m. on Mondays, 10:00 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays – rather than the current 6:00 p.m.(2:00 p.m. Fridays). The Speaker would then announce the topic, and read the motion immediately after prayers. Moving up the notice requirement should facilitate preparation for the debate, including the scheduling of speakers. 

The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended as follows:

81. (14) (a) Written notice of an opposition motion on an allotted day shall be filed with the Journals Branch not later than one hour prior to the opening of the sitting on the day preceding the allotted day, and the Speaker shall read the text of the motion at the opening of that sitting and shall indicate whether the motion is one that shall come to a vote pursuant to section (16) of this Standing Order.

81. (14)(b))  Forty-eight hours' written notice shall be given of motions to concur in interim supply, main estimates, supplementary or final estimates, to restore or reinstate any item in the estimates. Twenty-four hours' written notice shall be given (REMOVE of an opposition motion on an allotted day or) of a notice to oppose any item in the estimates, provided that for the supply period ending not later than June 23, forty-eight hours' written notice shall be given of a notice to oppose any item in the estimates.

AMENDMENTS TO OPPOSITION DAY MOTIONS

38.   Since an amendment can be moved to any motion before the House, a practice has developed in recent years whereby the mover of a Supply Day motion will seek leave to split his or her time, and the second speaker will invariably move an amendment to the opposition motion. Traditionally, amendments would be moved in an attempt to make the motion more acceptable to other Members, including government Members. Against this, it is argued that the focus of the Opposition Day motion can be hijacked or de-railed, against the wishes of the party moving it.

39.   The Committee feels that amendments to Supply Day motions should only be permitted to be moved with the consent of the mover of the motion. We would hope that there will be opportunities for motions to be amended in order to increase their support, but we recognize that the intent and spirit of allotted days is to allow the agenda to be set by the opposition parties.

The Committee recommends that the Standing Orders be amended as follows:

85. Only one amendment and one sub-amendment may be made to a motion proposed in the Budget Debate or to a motion proposed under an Order of the Day for the consideration of the business of supply on an allotted day; an amendment to an opposition motion proposed under an order for the consideration of the business of supply on an allotted day may only be moved with the consent of the sponsor of the motion.