Historical Perspective
Great Britain
Canada
Before Confederation
Since Confederation
Types of Bills
Public Bills
Government Bills
Private Members’ Bills
Private Bills
Forms of Bills
Limits on Legislative Action
Drafting Bills
Drafting by a Committee
Other Drafting Characteristics
Bills in Blank or in an Imperfect Shape
Printing and Reprinting of Bills
Clerical Alterations
Structure of Bills
Number
Title
Preamble
Enacting Clause
Clause
Interpretation Provisions
Coming-into-force Provisions
Schedules
Explanatory Notes
Summary
Marginal Notes
Underlining and Vertical Lines
Headings
Table of Contents
Royal Recommendation
Stages in the Legislative Process
Figure 16.1 The Three Options of the Legislative Process (Government Bills Originating in the House of Commons)
Notice of Motion for Leave to Introduce and Placement on the Order Paper
Preparation of a Bill by a Committee
Introduction and First Reading
Reference to Committee Before Second Reading
Second Reading and Reference to a Committee
Amendments to the Motion for Reading
The Hoist Amendment
The Reasoned Amendment
Referral of the Subject Matter of a Bill to a Committee
Motions of Instruction
Royal Consent
Consideration in Committee
Mandate of the Committee
Role of a Committee on a Bill
Length of Speeches
Hearing of Witnesses
Clause-by-Clause Consideration
Order in Which the Elements of the Bill Are Examined
Consideration of the Clauses
Clauses Allowed to Stand
Amendments
Order in Which Amendments Are Considered
Admissibility of Amendments
Rules
Putting the Question on Amendments
Adoption of the Bill
Leave to Report to the House
Reprinting of the Bill
Report to the House
Obligation to Report
Private Member’s Public Bill
Abandonment of a Bill
Report Containing Inadmissible Amendments
Presentation of Report
Report Stage
Drafting of Motions in Amendment at Report Stage
Notice of Amendment
Amendment as to Form Only
Notice of Royal Recommendation
Admissibility of Motions in Amendment
Power of the Speaker to Select Amendments
Debate
Deferral of Recorded Division
Concurrence at Report Stage
Third Reading (and Passage)
Consideration and Passage by the Senate
Passage of Senate Amendments (if any) by the House of Commons
Conference Between the Houses
Royal Assent
Royal Assent by Ceremony
Royal Assent by Written Declaration
Coming into Force
The average man, bewildered and overpowered by the thousands of laws and regulations which press in upon him and increasingly restrict his freedom, his right to make decisions, would be left absolutely defenceless without an active parliament with the strength and vitality which it must possess.
G.W. Baldwin, M.P. (Peace River)
(Debates, December 10, 1968, p. 3791)
The examination and enactment of legislation are often regarded as the most significant task of Parliament. It is therefore not surprising that the legislative process occupies a major portion of Parliament’s time.[1] But what exactly is the legislative process? There are those who have defined it as a structured series of actions whereby a legislative proposal is examined, debated, sometimes amended and ultimately either rejected or proclaimed as a statute. Indeed, formal action and consent are required at every parliamentary stage of what is, in fact, a much lengthier process starting with the proposal, formulation and drafting of a bill, normally by extra‑parliamentary governmental bodies.
In the Parliament of Canada, there is a clearly defined method for enacting legislation. This method is based on the examination of bills—formal legislative proposals that have been referred to by one authority as “the exclusive technical form for the exercise of the great functions of Parliament”.[2] A bill must pass through a number of very specific stages in the House of Commons and the Senate before it becomes law. In parliamentary terminology, these stages make up what is called “the legislative process”. The passage of a bill by the House of Commons and the Senate is effectively a request that the Crown proclaim its text as the law of the land. Once it has received Royal Assent, it is transformed from a bill into a statute. Because the process whereby a legislative proposal becomes first a bill, and then a law, takes place in Parliament, the end product―the statute―is often called an “Act of Parliament”.[3]
Traditionally, the legislative process begins with the introduction of a bill in one of the Houses of Parliament and ends with the granting of Royal Assent, which brings together the three constituent elements of Parliament: the Crown, the Senate and the House of Commons. To these stages of the legislative process some would add the proclamation of the bill when this precedes its coming into force. The process is complex, but its essence is simple—the validation of a statute by way of the approval of the same text by the three constituent elements of Parliament.
This chapter will examine the stages through which a public bill must pass before becoming law. Private bills follow essentially the same stages, but they must be initiated by a petition, and are subject to certain special rules.[4]
[1] Tardi, G., The Legal Framework of Government: A Canadian Guide, Aurora, Ontario: Canada Law Book Inc., 1992, p. 122.
[2] Redlich, J., The Procedure of the House of Commons: A Study of its History and Present Form, Vol. I, translated by A.E. Steinthal, New York: AMS Press, 1969 (reprint of 1908 ed.), p. 4.
[3] Stewart, J.B., The Canadian House of Commons: Procedure and Reform, Montreal and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1977, p. 79.
[4] For further information on the stages relating to private bills, see Chapter 23, “Private Bills Practice”.