SMIP Committee Report
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WITNESSES BEFORE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES
48. Witnesses before committees of the House should be advised of their rights and duties when called to appear, and, when appearing, before such committees, and of the possible penalties for non-cooperation or misleading or untrue testimony. Information on these matters should be sent to witnesses in advance of their appearances, and, where appropriate, the chair of a committee should explain these briefly at the beginning of a meeting.
The Committee recommends that procedures be developed for advising witnesses before parliamentary committees of the rights, duties and possible penalties.
COMMITTEE STUDY OF GOVERNMENT BILLS
49.At present, when government bills are referred to committees after second reading, there is no deadline by which the committee must report back to the House. This can be contrasted with the case of Private Members’ bills, which pursuant to Standing Order 97.1 must be reported back within 60 sitting days, with the possibility of a single extension of 30 sitting days, or it is deemed to have been reported without amendment.
50. The House Leaders believe that in the spirit of cooperation and in an effort to promote more legislative timetabling, consideration should be given to including a deadline in referrals of government bills to committees. This should be done on an interim basis, for six months, and only with the agreement of the House Leaders of all the recognized parties.
The Committee recommends that, for a six-month trial period, a motion to refer a government bill to a committee may include a deadline by which the bill must be reported back, such a motion to be moved only if all of the House Leaders agree.
51. The televising of committees by the electronic media was the subject of a report by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs tabled in the House on May 16, 2001, and concurred in on the same date.
52. In addition, members of the Committee believe a second room should be set up so that committees meeting in this room have their proceedings videotaped by the House of Commons Broadcasting Unit, with the signal to be made available to CPAC, the Parliamentary Press Gallery and on the parliamentary network.
The Committee recommends that a second committee room be equipped for televising by the House of Commons on a gavel-to-gavel basis.
53. The Committee encourages more closed-captioning of the French language broadcasts of the House of Commons and its committees, and believes that this should be raised in discussions and negotiations with CPAC.