House of Commons.

AuthorMacdonald, Julie-Anne
PositionLegislative Reports

The Second Session of the Forty-First Parliament adjourned for the winter break on December 10, 2013. The Flouse resumed sitting on January 27, 2014. The information below covers the period from November 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014.

Legislation

On November 5, during its consideration of Bill C-4, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures, the Standing Committee on Finance invited three other committees to study the subject matters of certain provisions of the Bill and to submit amendments to the Committee. In addition, as per a motion it adopted on October 29, the Committee invited independent Members to submit amendments, which would be deemed to be proposed. The Committee considered 66 amendments, including 31 from independent Members. No amendments were submitted by the other Standing Committees. The Bill was reported back to the House without amendment on November 28, concurred in at report stage on December 3, read a third time and passed on December 9, and received Royal Assent on December 12, 2013.

Points of Order

On January 28, 2014, the Speaker made a statement in response to a point of order raised by Nathan Cullen (Skeena--Bulkley Valley) on December 9, 2013, regarding Question Period. The Speaker reminded Members of the need for questions to be related to the administrative responsibilities of the government and cautioned against the use of "hybrid questions," with long, unrelated preambles, warning Members that questions of this type might be ruled out of order. He also spoke to answers and of his intention to continue the widespread practice and tradition for the Chair to not judge the quality or relevance of answers, a principle that has been upheld by many Speakers before him. He concluded that the onus is on all Members to raise the quality of both questions and answers.

Questions of Privilege

On January 28, 2014, the Speaker ruled on a question of privilege raised by Charmaine Borg (Terrebonne--Blainville) on December 9, 2013, regarding a widely-distributed letter addressed to her from Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais. She argued that the letter was an attack on her reputation that constituted an impediment to her ability to perform her parliamentary functions

As the communication which gave rise to the situation did not occur on the floor of the House and it was difficult to determine that the Member was unable to carry out her parliamentary duties, the...

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