House of Commons.

AuthorSokolyk, Gary
PositionLegislative Reports

The Second Session of the Forty-First Parliament adjourned for the winter break on December 12, 2014. The House resumed sitting on January 26, 2015. The information below covers the period from November 1, 2014, to January 31, 2015.

Legislation

In a rare occurrence, on November 24,2014, a petition for a Private Bill (S-1001 (An Act to amend the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Act)) was filed by Laurie Hawn (Edmonton Centre). The reports of the Clerk of Petitions and the Examiner of Petitions for Private Bills were presented to the House on November 25 and 26, respectively. On November 27, 2014, by unanimous consent, the Bill was deemed adopted at all stages, and it received Royal Assent on December 9, 2014.

Points of Order, Questions of Privilege and Procedure

Questions of Privilege

On November 3, 2014, Peter Julian (House Leader of the Official Opposition) rose on a question of privilege in connection with the rights of Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough) to sit and vote given his recent conviction by the Ontario Court of Justice of several offences under the Canada Elections Act in relation to the 2008 general election. Mr. Julian expressed the intention of proposing a motion immediately depriving Mr. Del Mastro of the rights to sit, vote, and receive salary and benefits. Peter Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons) rose, later that day, on a similar question of privilege. As had Mr. Julian, he emphasized that matters concerning its own Members were strictly for the House of Commons to decide and he expressed the intention of referring the matter to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. The Speaker ruled, on November 4, 2014, that there was indeed a prima facie case of privilege; since Mr. Julian had been the first to raise the matter, the Speaker invited him to move his motion. The Government gave notice of its intention to invoke closure on debate on the motion. The next day, Mr. Del Mastro having made a statement and resigned his seat in the House of Commons, the Speaker announced that any further proceedings on the motion were now unnecessary and it was dropped from the Order Paper.

On November 17, 2014, Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) rose on a question of privilege alleging that the Minister of Finance's update on economic and fiscal projections delivered to a select audience of business people in Toronto on November 12, 2014, rather than in the House, was, in effect...

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