Arranging the Business of the House / Miscellaneous

October 6, 1987

Debates, p. 9704

On October 6, 1987, during Government Orders, Mr. Jean-Robert Gauthier (Ottawa—Vanier) rose on a point of order because of a change in the order of business of the House. He argued that the Projected Order of Business indicated that the House would on that day be examining Bill C-55, An Act to amend the Immigration Act, 1976, and to amend other Acts in consequence thereof, but that the Government had decided at the last minute that the debate would instead be on the Constitution Amendment, 1987. After hearing Members’ comments,^[1] the Speaker said it was important for the public to understand that the Government had the right to determine the order of Government business in the House and that changes in it inevitably inconvenience both Government and Opposition Members. His remarks are reproduced in full below.

Decision of the Chair

The Speaker: It might be helpful, especially to the public which is listening and watching, if I commented on the intervention of the honourable Member for Ottawa—Vanier, which I think was quite appropriate.

As honourable Members know, sometimes the press reports the fact that during ordinary debate something less than all Members of the House of Commons are in their seats. There is a reason for that. Honourable Members cannot spend all their time in this Chamber during debate. They have innumerable obligations to meet, especially in respect of their own constituents and also especially in respect of the nearly 40 committees which can be sitting at one time or another putting in the work dispatched to them by the Chamber.

The comments of the honourable Member for Ottawa—Vanier were appropriate. I also appreciate the comments of the honourable Member for Kamloops—Shuswap (Mr. Nelson Riis). In a sense he enforced the comments made earlier by his colleague. I know they have both made efforts to adjust to a change in the schedule here.

However, I think it is especially important that the public understand that a great deal of the work of this place goes on outside the Chamber. It is not always easy to change the commitments of Members and bring them into the Chamber.

The honourable Minister of State (Hon. Doug Lewis) in speaking for the Government recognized this, but again it is important for the public to understand that it is the Government’s position to set the order of each day, as it has done in this case. The honourable Minister of State had indicated that he would have wished that perhaps more notice could have been given. In any event, that was the decision of the Government, and that has always been the way governments run this place.

I think it is very important that the public understand that a great deal of the work which is being done on behalf of the public is not done in this Chamber. It is done in other places and, as a consequence, when there is a change here it puts pressure not only on Members of the opposition but on Members on the Government side, because it requires a change in plans and a change in schedules. It is important that this is properly recorded and, if I might say so, emphasized from time to time.

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1987-10-06