House of Commons Procedure and Practice

Second Edition, 2009

House of Commons Procedure and Practice - 10. The Daily Program - Government Orders

Government Orders

Each sitting day, a substantial portion of the House’s time is devoted to the consideration of Government Orders, which include any item of business proposed by a Minister for consideration on a certain day.

The rules provide that Government Orders are considered on Mondays from noon to 2:00 p.m., recommencing following Routine Proceedings until 6:30 p.m. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, after Routine Proceedings at 10:00 a.m., the House considers Government Orders until 2:00 p.m. and then again following Question Period from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., at which time the House considers Private Members’ Business. On Wednesdays, after Routine Proceedings and “Notices of Motions for the Production of Papers”, Government Orders are taken up until 5:30 p.m. when Private Members’ Business begins. On Fridays, Government Orders are considered from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., at which time the House proceeds to Statements by Members. After Routine Proceedings, the House resumes consideration of Government Orders until 1:30 p.m., when Private Members’ Business begins.^{^[348]}

See Figure 10.1, outlining the daily order of business.

Historical Perspective

Historically, there have been many changes to the rules of the House in order to increase the time available to the government and to reduce the proportion of House time devoted to private bills or to matters brought forward by private Members. In 1867, private bills were debated on Mondays and for one hour each Wednesday and Friday evening, while notices of motions and public bills were considered on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Only Tuesdays and Fridays were reserved for Government Orders.^{^[349]}

From 1867 to 1962, the Standing Orders gave precedence to Private Members’ Business on particular days each week. However, successive governments found such a distribution inadequate for the conduct of their own legislative programs and periodically gave precedence to their own business via special or sessional orders. In 1962, the House amended its Standing Orders so that government business could be considered each sitting day, while a select number of hours per week were allocated to Private Members’ Business.^{^[350]} This schedule remained more or less intact until 1982, when the House set aside Wednesdays for Private Members’ Business.^{^[351]} In 1983, the House reverted to the practice of considering Government Orders each day.^{^[352]} Today, 23.5 hours a week are set aside for the consideration of government business under normal hours of sitting.^{^[353]}

In 2001, the Standing Orders were amended to provide that deferred divisions would be held immediately following Question Period, and that Government Orders would be extended accordingly to avoid reducing the time available for government business.^{^[354]}

Orders of the Day

When the Speaker calls “Orders of the Day”, a Table Officer rises and reads out the item of business that the House is to consider at that time.^{^[355]} The Orders of the Day are listed in the Order Paper.

The sequence of Government Orders as listed on the Order Paper does not reflect precedence: it is an administrative breakdown showing the different categories of government business or projected government business in chronological sequence. Items eligible for consideration under Government Orders include all the orders made by the House at previous sittings relating to the items of government business then before the House (including, for example, bills introduced and ordered for a second reading, motions whose notice requirements have been met, and any order for resuming debate on an item). These items are listed under “Orders of the Day” on the Order Paper under the following headings: “Business of Supply”; “Ways and Means”; “Government Bills (Commons)”; “Government Bills (Senate)”; and “Government Business”.^{^[356]}

Any item of business proposed by a Minister outside of proceedings on supply, ways and means, and bills is listed under the heading “Government Business”. They typically include, for example, motions to establish special committees, to refer business to committees, to confirm the appointment of an Officer of Parliament, to propose a resolution declaratory of some opinion, or to make arrangements for the conduct of the business of the House. In addition to these items, when debate on motions that have been moved under “Motions” during Routine Proceedings is interrupted or adjourned, the motions (except motions for concurrence in committee reports^{^[357]}) are transferred to “Government Business”.^{^[358]}

When Government Orders is called, any item listed may be brought before the House for consideration. Any item that has been called, and on which debate has begun, must be dealt with until adjourned, interrupted or disposed of. If adjourned or interrupted, the item remains on the Order Paper.^{^[359]} If the item is disposed of, by either an affirmative or a negative decision of the House, it is removed from the Order Paper.

The business that the House is to consider during Government Orders is determined solely by the government.^{^[360]} On occasions when the opposition has protested a change in the projected order of business for a specific sitting day, the Speaker has reminded Members of the government’s prerogative.^{^[361]}

Information concerning the government’s intention to proceed to a specific Order of the Day is conveyed to the Table through the office of the Government House Leader, which provides a projected order of business or agenda of orders (bills and motions) the House is to consider that day. The Government House Leader consults regularly and confidentially with the House Leaders of the other recognized parties in the House about the order of business for each day of the week. A weekly statement concerning the projected order of business is traditionally made on Thursdays after Question Period.^{^[362]} Any last minute changes or additions to the government’s agenda are, as far as possible, relayed directly to the Table by the Government House Leader or his or her Parliamentary Secretary.

Although the government does not select the subject matter to be debated when the House considers a motion moved on an allotted day pursuant to the business of supply, it is the government’s prerogative to designate which sitting day the debate will be held.^{^[363]} The item is considered under Government Orders given that, in moving the motion, a Member of the opposition does so pursuant to the continuing order for supply moved by the government at the beginning of each session. This order allows the business of supply to remain on the agenda for every sitting day of the session thereafter.^{^[364]} The importance of the business of supply is underlined by the fact that for allotted days, the Standing Orders give it precedence over all other government business. The government has the option of calling or not calling the order for the business of supply on a given day, but once the order is read for the consideration of the business of supply, any opposition motions will have precedence. The government cannot put aside the business of supply and take up other items of Government Orders until all supply items listed on that day’s Order Paper have been dealt with.^{^[365]}

^[348] Standing Order 30(5) and (6). See Figure 10.1 for the Daily Order of Business. The time for Government Orders may be increased if a Member moves a motion, without notice, to continue or to extend a sitting beyond the ordinary hour of daily adjournment to continue the consideration of a particular government order, and the motion is adopted (Standing Order 26). In addition, as the House moves toward the summer adjournment, a Minister may propose a motion during Routine Proceedings to extend the hours of sitting of the House in the last 10 sitting days of June (Standing Order 27). Government Orders may also be extended because of a recorded division (Standing Order 45(7.1)), a ministerial statement (Standing Order 33(2)) or a question period on a time allocation motion (Standing Order 67.1(2)). For further information, see Chapter 9, “Sittings of the House”, Chapter 12, “The Process of Debate”, and Chapter 14, “The Curtailment of Debate”.

^[349] Rules, Orders and Forms of Proceeding of the House of Commons of Canada, 1868, Rule No. 19.

^[350] Journals, April 10, 1962, pp. 338‑9; April 12, 1962, p. 350.

^[351] Third Report of the Special Committee on Standing Orders and Procedure, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, November 14, 1982, Issue No. 7, pp. 14‑5, presented to the House on November 5, 1982 (Journals, p. 5328), and concurred in on November 29, 1982 (Journals, p. 5400).

^[352] First Report of the Special Committee on Standing Orders, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, December 15, 1983, Issue No. 2, pp. 3‑4, presented to the House on December 15, 1983 (Journals, p. 47), and concurred in on December 19, 1983 (Journals, pp. 55‑6).

^[353] The amount of time available daily to the government for the consideration of its business has fluctuated over the years depending on the hours of sitting and adjournment of the House. For example, in 1990, 18 hours a week were set aside for Government Orders; this increased to 25 hours the following year. In 1994, time available for Government Orders was readjusted when the ordinary hour of daily adjournment was altered and the daily midday interruption for the lunch hour was removed.

[354] Standing Order 45(7.1). See the First Report of the Special Committee on the Modernization and Improvement of the Procedures of the House of Commons, par. 20, presented to the House on June 1, 2001 (Journals, p. 465), and concurred in on October 4, 2001 (Journals, p. 693), pursuant to an Order made on October 3, 2001 (Journals, p. 685).

^[355] See Stewart, pp. 71‑2, for a history of the term “Orders of the Day”.

[356] For further information on these headings (Government Business excepted), see Chapter 16, “The Legislative Process”, and Chapter 18, “Financial Procedures”.

[357] Standing Order 66(2). Standing Order 66 was amended provisionally in 2005, and permanently in the spring of 2006, to exclude motions of concurrence in committee reports from this procedure. A motion for the concurrence in a committee report is now debated for no longer than three hours. If debate is interrupted or adjourned, the motion is not transferred to Government Orders, but it is transferred to the rubric “Concurrence in Committee Reports” on the Order Paper and debate resumes at the ordinary hour of daily adjournment on a day no later than 10 sitting days after debate was interrupted or adjourned. For further information, see the section in this chapter entitled “Motions”.

^[358] Standing Order 66(1). Prior to 1965, resumed debate on motions moved during Routine Proceedings took place under that rubric on the next sitting day. On several occasions, motions to concur in committee reports were debated at length over a number of days, thus preventing the House from considering any further items on the Order Paper. In 1965, the Standing Orders were amended in such a way that the government was obliged to call resumed debate on adjourned or interrupted motions as the first item under Government Orders on the next sitting day. This change prevented continued debate on a motion from keeping the House from considering other items of Routine Proceedings or from having a Question Period (Journals, June 11, 1965, pp. 224, 226). Three years later, the House concurred in a report from a special committee which recommended that the government be permitted to call such business in the order it chooses without restriction (Journals, December 20, 1968, p. 571).

^[359] Standing Order 41.

^[360] Standing Order 40(2). However, in order to be considered, any government business must meet the necessary notice requirement (Standing Order 54). This Standing Order was first included in the rules of the House in 1906 (Debates, July 9, 1906, cols. 7477‑80; Journals, July 10, 1906, pp. 579‑80).

^[361] In 1987, the Speaker cited this rule when the opposition challenged the right of the government to call a bill for debate even though, as they claimed, its text was in imperfect form. Despite the charge, the Speaker agreed to allow debate without prejudice to any ruling that might be rendered because, as he stated, under the terms of the rule, the government was within its right to carry on with the debate (Debates, January 23, 1987, pp. 2651‑3). See also Debates, October 29, 1987, pp. 10508‑9; May 25, 1988, pp. 15773‑5; April 2, 1993, p. 18002; June 1, 1994, pp. 4709‑10.

^[362] For further information, see the section in this chapter entitled “Weekly Business Statement”.

^[363] The hybrid nature of supply motions, which are formulated by Members of the opposition yet considered under Government Orders, gave rise to one of the few instances in recent years where the Speaker invoked Standing Order 40(2) to resolve a dispute. On February 11, 1982, the Government House Leader announced that a supply day set for the following day would be postponed by one week. When the opposition objected, the Speaker ruled that, as supply motions fall under Government Orders, they can be “called and considered in sequence as the government determines” (Debates, pp. 14896‑9).

^[364] Standing Order 81(1). Since the Thirty-Eighth Parliament, and contrary to previous practice, a number of opposition motions may sit on the Order Paper simultaneously; if all of them are placed on notice with more than 48 hours’ notice, they are eligible to be called for debate on the opposition days assigned to the party that placed them on notice. See, for example, Order Paper and Notice Paper, April 15, 2008, pp. 25‑31. On March 12, 2008, Speaker Milliken called an opposition motion that had been placed on notice on December 4, 2007. The Liberal Party had announced its selection at 2 p.m. on the day of the debate, that is, just one hour before the consideration of Government Orders (Debates, March 12, 2008, pp. 4055‑7).

^[365] Standing Order 81(2).