Rulings of Senate Speakers 1994 – 2005
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Rulings of Senate Speakers 1994 – 2005 November 2008 Prepared by the Chamber Operations and Procedure Office Introduction According to section 34 of the Constitution Act, 1867, the Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General and shall serve as Speaker until another Senator is appointed. The Speaker is vested with certain authority for the purpose of assisting the Senate in managing its agenda during a sitting day. When points of order or questions of privilege are raised, either to seek clarification in relation to a proceeding or to bring to the attention of the Senate an occurrence which may have breached a parliamentary privilege or demeaned the dignity of the Senate, Senators can present the Speaker with their assessment of the particular situation. Having heard sufficient arguments, the Speaker will consider their merits and render a decision. Rules and practices obliged the Speaker to give reasons to explain the decision. The ruling of the Speaker, however, is not necessarily final. If a Senator wishes to challenge the Speaker, the Senate must vote to sustain the ruling. This collection of rulings from 1994-2005 covers the decisions that were made by three Speakers: the Honourable Senators Roméo LeBlanc, Gildas Molgat and Daniel Hays. Paul C. Bélisle Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Parliaments Table of Contents November 2008 First Session, Thirty-Fifth Parliament January 17, 1994 – February 2, 1996 .......................................................................................... 1 Question of privilege – Right of Senate to claim attendance and service of its members.......... 3 Inclusion of dissenting opinions in reprint of Special Joint Committee report .......................... 5 Motion – Acceptability (that the motion be not now adopted but referred to a committee) ...... 8 Bill – Admissibility (C-79)......................................................................................................... 9 Motion – Acceptability (motion in amendment) ...................................................................... 11 Motion – Acceptability (referring subject-matter of bill to committee and postponing 2nd reading until committee reports) ......................................................................................... 11 Motion – Acceptability (allowing standing committee to work with House of Commons committee) ................................................................................................................................ 13 Motion – Acceptability (Message from House of Commons).................................................. 14 Bill – Admissibility (C-69)....................................................................................................... 15 Divisions – Request for deferred divisions............................................................................... 16 Motion – Acceptability (constituting a special committee)...................................................... 16 Question of Privilege – Statements contained in newspaper article......................................... 20 Question of Privilege – Power of Speaker to adjudicate on competence of Senate to pass legislation.................................................................................................................................. 21 Bill – Admissibility (S-11) ....................................................................................................... 23 Motion – Acceptability (instructing committee to report by a certain date) ................................ 24 Motion – Acceptability (change of date) .................................................................................... 26 Second Session, Thirty-Fifth Parliament February 27, 1996 – April 27 1997 ............................................................................................ 29 Question of Privilege – Correspondence written to Members of Parliament by federal inmate at penitentiary ................................................................................................... 31 Bill – Admissibility (C-28) (Ruling appealed and sustained)................................................... 32 Written questions – Effect of prorogation on unanswered questions ....................................... 34 Bill – Admissibility (C-28) (Ruling appealed and sustained)................................................... 36 Bill – Admissibility (C-28)....................................................................................................... 38 Question Period (recognition of Senators)................................................................................ 39 Motion – Acceptability (government motion to allocate time) ................................................ 40 Committee Report – Acceptability (Ruling appealed and sustained)....................................... 41 Motion – Acceptability (amendment referring report back to committee)............................... 44 Bill – Admissibility (C-42)....................................................................................................... 44 Miscellaneous – Whether Speaker had said “adopté, carried” ................................................. 46 Orders of the Day (disposition of items) .................................................................................. 46 Motion – Acceptability (amendment to a motion to refer a bill to a committee)..................... 47 Bill – Admissibility (S-12) ....................................................................................................... 48 Bill – Consideration of committee report prior to examination of interim report of committee (Ruling appealed and sustained)......................................................................... 51 Motions – Notice (Right of Acting Deputy Leader of Government to give Government Notice of Motion) ................................................................................................ 53 Motions – Acceptability (government motion to allocate time)............................................... 54 Bill – Admissibility (S-16) ....................................................................................................... 55 First Session, Thirty-Sixth Parliament September 22, 1997 – September 18, 1999................................................................................ 57 Adjournment of debate – Decision of Senate to refuse ............................................................ 59 Motion – Acceptability (motion in amendment) ...................................................................... 59 Bill – Admissibility (C-16)....................................................................................................... 59 Motion – Right of Speaker to decide the acceptability of a motion in amendment without point of order being raised........................................................................................... 60 Motion – Acceptability (motion in amendment) ...................................................................... 61 Motion – Acceptability of government notice of motion respecting time allocation............... 62 Bill – Amendment to a reasoned amendment........................................................................... 63 Emergency debate – Request (Ruling appealed and sustained) ............................................... 63 Routine of Business – Right to raise a point of order during ................................................... 64 Emergency debate – Request.................................................................................................... 65 Committees – Acceptability of report regarding Sen. Thompson ............................................ 65 Question of Privilege – Circulation of information concerning new tax rates prior to passage of enacting legislation (C-2)........................................................................................ 67 Bill – Admissibility (S-13) ....................................................................................................... 70 ii Question of Privilege – Circulation of petitions soliciting public support for the abolition of the Senate .............................................................................................................. 74 Orders of the Day – Government’s authority to determine priority of reports of committees............................................................................................................................ 75 Motion – Acceptability (motion in amendment) ...................................................................... 76 Bills – Committee Reports - Acceptability of an amendment.................................................. 77 Motion – Acceptability (“same question” rule)........................................................................ 80 Bill – Withdrawing (S-15) ........................................................................................................ 82 Question of Privilege – References to Minister of Canadian Heritage in Hustler magazine ... 82 Bill – Admissibility (S-26) ....................................................................................................... 85 Motion – Acceptability (endorsing a report of the House of Commons of which the Senate has no direct knowledge) .............................................................................................. 86 Bill – Preparing amendments in both languages - references