21. Private Members’ Business

As soon as practicable after the order of precedence has been established at the beginning of each session, but not later than 10 sitting days after that date, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs must meet to select from the items placed on the order of precedence as a result of the draw up to 10 items to be designated as “votable items”. ^[93]  Being selected as votable should not be construed as a guarantee that the House will adopt the bill or motion.

Certain items which may be selected as votable are nonetheless not to be included as part of the list of 10 votable items, since they were not placed on the order of precedence as a result of the draw:

• bills jointly supported by 100 Members; ^[94] 
• Senate public bills;
• bills reinstated from a previous session at the second reading stage.

As well, any item on which a recorded division has been deferred, and which would be removed from the order of precedence as a result of that division, is not to be included as part of the list of 10 votable items.

Furthermore, other items are automatically placed on the order of precedence and automatically made votable but are not to be included as part of the list of 10 votable items:

• all stages of a private bill; ^[95] 
• notices of motions (papers); ^[96] 
• bills reported from committee (or deemed to have been reported from committee);
• bills at the third reading stage;
• consideration of Senate amendments to bills.

It has been the practice since 1986 for the Committee to consult with the sponsors of each bill or motion placed on the order of precedence before making its selection of votable items. Each Member sponsoring an item on the order of precedence is invited to appear before the Committee in a public meeting to make a short presentation explaining why his or her item warrants additional debate and being put to a vote in the House. Each presentation may be followed by a brief question-and-answer period. The Committee has traditionally selected votable items by consensus rather than on the basis of votes. ^[97] 

A Member may ask the Committee not to select his or her item as votable by notifying the clerk of the Committee. The item will still remain on the order of precedence and be debated as a non-votable item.

Since 1986, the Committee has based its selection of votable items on specific criteria, the list of which was occasionally modified throughout the years. ^[98]  The most recent list, outlined in the Seventieth Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs in April 1999, ^[99]  contains the following criteria:

• Bills and motions must be drafted in clear, complete, and effective terms;
• Bills and motions must be constitutional and concern areas of federal jurisdiction;
• Bills and motions should concern matters of significant public interest;
• Bills and motions should concern issues that are not part of the government’s current legislative agenda and which have not been voted on or otherwise addressed by the House of Commons in the current session of Parliament;
• All other things being equal, higher priority will be given to items which transcend purely local interest, are not couched in partisan terms, or cannot be addressed by the House in other ways.

After consulting the Members sponsoring the items on the order of precedence, the Committee meets, in camera, to make a final decision. It prepares a report which contains the list of the items selected and the names of the sponsoring Members. Once presented to the House, the report is deemed adopted without debate or amendment. ^[100] 

Further meetings to select items may be held from time to time during the session, usually when the order of precedence has been replenished through subsequent draws. The number of votable items which the Committee can select after a draw will depend on the number of items still on the list from previous selections, although no more than 10 items selected as votable can be on the order of precedence at any given time. ^[101]