After a bill has been read a second time,
the House may order it referred to a Committee of the Whole for consideration
either pursuant to the Standing
Orders [146]
or by unanimous
consent [147]
or pursuant to a special order of the
House. [148]
Following concurrence in the Main and
Supplementary Estimates and Interim Supply, all appropriation or Supply bills
(bills authorizing the actual withdrawal of funds from the Consolidated Revenue
Fund for government expenditures) are automatically referred to a Committee of
the Whole for
consideration. [149]
These bills are usually considered at the end of the sitting on the last
allotted day in a Supply period when little or no more debating time remains.
The Standing Orders provide for the Speaker to interrupt the proceedings at that
time and put all questions necessary to dispose of all stages of any Supply
bills without further debate. Thus, the committee stage is generally very brief
and the bills are reported back to the House without amendment within a matter
of minutes. [150]
Often a Committee of the Whole examines
non-controversial bills or bills dealing with matters of political importance on
which arrangements on the use of House time have been made. Also, by unanimous
consent or special order, the House has examined urgent legislation, such as
legislation terminating strikes, in a Committee of the
Whole. [151]
Many of
these bills are considered by consent of the House at two or more stages in one
sitting.
A bill is dealt with in a Committee of the
Whole in much the same way it would be if it were referred to a standing,
special or legislative
committee. [152]
Consideration of the preamble and title (as well as Clause 1 if it only contains
the short title of the bill) are
postponed. [153]
Each clause is a distinct question and is discussed separately in numerical order.
Traditionally, when Clause 1 (or Clause 2 if Clause 1 contains only the short
title of the
bill [154] )
is called,
the Committee holds a general debate, similar to that at second reading,
covering the principles and details of the bill. After Clause 1 (or Clause 2) is
disposed of, debate must be strictly relevant to the clause under
consideration. [155]
This tends to make debate on subsequent clauses shorter. Amendments and
sub-amendments to a clause may be proposed if found procedurally acceptable by
the Chair, and after debate they must be disposed of before the next clause may
be called. [156]
After a clause has been considered, the Chair asks if it shall
carry. [157]
Once a
clause has been disposed of, it may not be discussed again during consideration
of another clause. New clauses, schedules, new schedules, Clause 1 (if it
contains only the short title of the bill), the preamble and the title are the
last items
considered. [158]
Similar to proceedings in standing, special or legislative committees,
consideration of particular clauses may be postponed or stood by decision of the
Committee. [159]
Since the House is not supposed to be
informed of the proceedings of a committee on a bill until the bill has been
reported, Members cannot refer to the bill or proceedings on it during
consideration of other matters if the bill is still before a Committee of the
Whole. [160]
When consideration of a bill in a Committee of the Whole is completed, the Chairman
requests leave to report the bill. Often leave is granted automatically, but it
is not unusual for a division to take place on the
motion. [161]
Once leave is granted, the Mace is put back in place on the Table, the Speaker
resumes the Chair and the Chairman reports the bill, with or without amendment,
to the House. [162]
The report is then received by the House and the Speaker immediately puts the
question on the motion for the bill to be concurred in at the report
stage. [163]
No amendments or debate are allowed at this
stage. [164]
Should the bill be concurred in at the
report stage, the third reading motion may be proposed at the same
sitting. [165]
However, if the bill had been read a second time that same sitting, the third
reading motion may only be moved with the unanimous consent of the House because
the Standing Orders dictate that the three readings of a bill should occur on
different days. [166]
With the consent of the House, the third reading motion may be proposed
immediately, which is the usual
practice, [167]
or later the same sitting. Third reading may also take place at the next sitting of
the House. [168]
During consideration of the motion for
third reading, an amendment may be proposed that the bill be recommitted to a
Committee of the
Whole. [169]
Such a
recommital amendment usually limits consideration in the Committee to certain
clauses, or new proposed
amendments. [170]
In some cases, no limitation is
included. [171]
If adopted, this motion becomes an instruction to the
Committee. [172]
Motions of instruction are derived from
British practice which was developed in the second half of the nineteenth
century and incorporated into Canadian practice, although they have seldom been
used. Instructions to a Committee of the Whole dealing with legislation are not
mandatory but permissive, that is the Committee has the discretion to decide if
it will exercise the power given to it by the House to do something which it
otherwise would have no authority to
do. [173]
However, if
the Committee itself wishes to extend its powers, it must request that the House
give it an instruction to this
effect. [174]
Today, given that the House usually refers a bill to a Committee of the Whole to
expedite its passage, the House agrees to define the committee’s work
typically by special
order. [175]
In the event the House wishes to instruct a
Committee of the Whole to do something, a motion of instruction may be moved
without notice immediately after a bill has been read a second time and referred
to a Committee of the Whole but before the House has resolved itself into the
Committee. [176]
An instruction to a Committee of the Whole has also been moved as a substantive
motion under the rubric “Motions” during Routine Proceedings when a
bill was already before the
Committee. [177]
A motion of instruction is debatable and
amendable. [178]
Members have moved motions instructing a Committee of the Whole to divide a bill
into several
bills, [179]
to consolidate several bills into one
bill, [180]
and to insert new clauses into a
bill. [181]
A motion
of instruction is inadmissible if it seeks to confer upon the Committee powers
it already has, such as the authority to amend a
bill. [182]
Any number
of motions of instruction may be moved successively to a bill referred to a
Committee of the Whole; however, each motion is a separate and independent
motion. [183]
Once a
motion of instruction is adopted, it becomes an Order of Reference to the
Committee.