House of commons.

• Author: Grenier-Michaud, Philippe
• Position: Legislative Reports - Legislative bills; legislative committees; elections

The House adjourned for the winter break on December 12, 2012, and resumed sitting on January 28, 2013. The following information covers the period from November 1, 2012, to January 27, 2013.

Bill C-45, Jobs and Growth Act, 2012

During the fall period, the proceedings on Bill C-45 drew much attention and were the subject of many interventions in the House and in committee.

On October 30, 2012, Bill C-45 was read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Finance, which held several meetings on the Bill. Pursuant to a motion adopted by the Committee on October 31, 2012, the clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill ended on November 21, 2012, when all question necessary to dispose of the Bill were put without further debate. Between November 21 and 23, the Committee took over 3,600 decisions, voting consecutively for 46 hours, with few suspensions. On November 26, the Bill was reported back to the House without amendment.

The same day Opposition House Leader Nathan Cullen and Scott Brison raised points of order regarding the Standing Committee on Finance proceedings on the Bill. Mr. Cullen argued that the Finance Committee, through the adoption of its motion regarding the conduct of its proceedings on the Bill, went beyond its mandate and usurped the authority of the House. In turn, Mr. Brison argued that the October 31 motion, which specified a time limit for the clause-by-clause consideration, had resulted in a decision of the Chair being overturned by the Committee, and consequently, in the Committee being forced to vote on all amendments submitted, even those which had yet to be moved. On November 29, 2012, Speaker Andrew Scheer, ruled that without a report to the House from the Finance Committee detailing specific grievance or describing a particular set of events, he could not find sufficient evidence that the Standing Committee exceeded the limits of its mandate and powers in its consideration of the Bill. He therefore considered the 13th Report of the Standing Committee on Finance to be properly before the House and ruled that the Bill could proceed to the next steps in the legislative process.

On November 29, 2012, before delivering a ruling on the selection and grouping of motions in amendment at report stage of Bill C-45, the Speaker responded to a point of order raised by Mr. Cullen the previous day regarding the grouping of report stage motions. Mr. Cullen had expressed concern that, as a result of the grouping for...