House of Commons.

• Author: Gerin-Lajoie, Catherine
• Position: Legislative Reports - Report

The final months of 2007 in the House of Commons were the stage for unusual events in parliamentary history. The Chalk River nuclear plant, used to produce the radioisotopes needed for medical diagnostics tests, was shut down on November 18, 2007. The shutdown, the cause of which was controversial and disputed, eventually led to a shortage of radioisotopes in Canada and around the world.

On December 11, 2007, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan obtained unanimous consent for a motion to revert to the Introduction of Government Bills and, accordingly, Bill C-38, An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River was introduced, read a first time and ordered printed.

The Government House Leader then obtained unanimous consent for another motion allowing the House to sit beyond the usual adjournment time for consideration of the said Bill. Also pursuant to the motion, the Bill was deemed read a second time and referred to a Committee of the Whole, the Committee of the Whole was authorized to hear certain witnesses, whose names were listed in the motion, and the Bill was able to be read a second and third time in the same sitting.

At the beginning of consideration by the Committee of the Whole, Chair Bill Blaikie made a brief statement, noting the rarity of hearing witnesses on the floor of the House of Commons. After consideration in the Committee of the Whole was completed, the Bill was concurred in at report stage and passed at third reading. The Senate passed the bill without amendment the next day.

Committees

The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics held hearings on the Brian Mulroney-Karlheinz Schreiber affair, and presented its First Report to the House on November 27, 2007, recommending that the Speaker of the House issue the necessary warrants for Mr. Schreiber, who was in prison in Toronto at the time, to appear before the Committee as soon as possible and to remain available to the Committee as long as necessary. The House concurred in the report the same day by unanimous consent and the Speaker subsequently issued a warrant, the first such warrant regarding a witness to be issued since 1913. The Speaker warrant was duly executed and Mr. Schreiber, still in custody, appeared before the Committee on November 29, 2007.

On December 4, 2007, the Standing Committee on Finance struck a subcommittee to examine Bill C-28, An Act to...