The Legislative Process / Stages
Report stage: power of the Speaker to select amendments; amendments not presented in committee
Debates, p. 13030
Context
In written submissions to the Speaker, Rodger Cuzner (Cape Breton—Canso) and Russ Hiebert (South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale) described their efforts to propose amendments to Bill C-377, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (requirements for labour organizations), during its study by the Standing Committee on Finance. They argued that, since the Committee was unsuccessful in starting the clause-by-clause study of the Bill as scheduled and in completing its consideration of the Bill before it was deemed reported back to the House without amendment pursuant to Standing Order 97.1,[1] there was no opportunity to propose their amendments in committee. Consequently, Mr. Hiebert and Mr. Cuzner submitted motions in amendment at report stage.
Resolution
On December 7, 2012, the Acting Speaker (Barry Devolin) delivered his ruling on the selection of the five report stage motions in amendment to the Bill. He stated that, having reviewed the written submissions from Mr. Hiebert and Mr. Cuzner as well as the sequence of events that occurred during the Committee meeting, he felt these motions could not have been presented in committee and, accordingly, all five motions were selected for debate at report stage.
Decision of the Chair
The Acting Speaker: There are five motions standing on the Notice Paper for the report stage of the Member for South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale’s Bill C-377, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (requirements for labour organizations).
While it is not usual for the Chair to provide reasons for the selection of report stage motions, in this case it has been decided to do so given that the Speaker has received written submissions from the hon. Members for South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale and Cape Breton—Canso, outlining exceptional circumstances surrounding the committee consideration of the Bill.
As Members know, consistent with the note to Standing Order 76.1(5),[2] the Chair would not normally select motions that could have been presented in committee.
In the present case, however, there appear to be extenuating circumstances. The hon. Members who have submitted motions at report stage were in attendance at the meeting scheduled for the clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill by the Standing Committee on Finance. In addition, they had both submitted motions in advance of this meeting and these had been circulated to all Members of the Committee. At first glance, it would therefore appear that the amendments submitted by these Members could have been proposed during the committee consideration of the Bill.
In his submission, the Member for South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale explained the efforts that were made to ensure that the Committee would actually begin the clause-by-clause study of the Bill as scheduled in order to complete consideration of the Bill within the prescribed deadlines attached to it. He reported that these efforts were unsuccessful and, as a result, there was no opportunity to propose amendments in Committee.
The Chair has been met with this kind of circumstance before. On September 20, 2010, in the Debates on page 4069, Speaker Milliken ruled on a case where the Member for Scarborough—Guildwood faced a similar situation in relation to his Bill C-300, An Act respecting corporate accountability for the activities of mining, oil or gas in developing countries. In that case, the Speaker selected report stage motions for debate because it had been established that the Member had made clear attempts to have the clause-by-clause study take place so that amendments could be considered by the Committee.
Similarly, in the case before us today, the Chair has carefully reviewed the sequence of events as well as the written submissions from the Members for South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale and Cape Breton—Canso and is satisfied that these motions could not be presented during the Committee consideration of the Bill.
Accordingly, Motions Nos. 1 to 5 have been selected for debate at report stage. They will be grouped for debate and voted upon according to the voting patterns available at the Table.
I shall now propose Motions Nos. 1 to 5 to the House.
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[1] See Appendix A, “Cited Provisions: Standing Orders of the House of Commons”, Standing Order 97.1.
[2] See Appendix A, Standing Order 76.1(5).