Special Debates

Introduction

In response to events related to the parliamentary cycle, to emergencies, or to issues of national or international importance, the House will, from time to time, put aside its normal proceedings to engage in debate on these matters. The Standing Orders designate these debates as “Special Debates”. They include the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne, the debate on the Standing Orders and procedure of the House and its committees, emergency debates, debates to suspend certain standing orders in order to consider urgent matters, and take-note debates. This chapter focuses on emergency debates.

Emergency debates are governed by specific provisions of the Standing Orders. Standing Order 52(1)1 gives members leave to make a motion for the adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter requiring urgent consideration. However, before refusing or granting leave to hold an emergency debate, the Speaker considers a number of factors.

Once Routine Proceedings has concluded, any member who has notified the Speaker at least one hour prior to rising in the House may formally request that an emergency debate be held. In April 2017, a member provided that request to the Speaker but was able to rise to speak only three days later. The member argued that the Standing Orders did not set out a maximum period for providing notice and that his request was still valid. The Deputy Speaker, presiding, ruled that since the member had not given notice one hour prior to the Routine Proceedings of that sitting, the Deputy Speaker could not receive his request. The Deputy Speaker told him to make his request again after the break.

When determining whether a matter is urgent, the Speaker also takes into account the likelihood that the matter will be discussed in the House within the context of a normal sitting within a reasonable time frame. The Speaker is not obliged to indicate the reasons for refusing or granting a request for an emergency debate. While the Speaker may provide reasons from time to time, the Chair seeks to limit its explanations in order to avoid adding to the jurisprudence, which could itself become a subject of debate in the House.

The seven decisions in this chapter on emergency debates illustrate the wide variety of both requests made and the ways in which the Speaker responded to them. Requests came sometimes from one Member and sometimes from several. Among other topics of debate were national and international crises and alleged interference in the justice system. In these cases, Speaker Regan delivered his rulings immediately and authorized the debate to be held on that night or during the next day.