House of Commons.

AuthorMacdonald, Julie-Anne
PositionLegislative Reports

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The First Session of the Forty-Second Parliament continued through the early months of 2016. The information below covers the period from February 3, 2016, to May 6, 2016.

Financial Procedures

On February 25, 2016 at the request of Bill Morneau (Minister of Finance), an Order of the Day was designated for the consideration of a Ways and Means motion for a budget presentation. On March 22, 2016, Mr. Morneau moved "[t]hat this House approve in general the budgetary policy of the government" and presented the budget speech. A special order was adopted on April 12, 2016 governing the disposition of the motion, and following the usual four days of debate, the motion was agreed to on April 19, 2016.

The following day, on April 20, 2016, Dominic Leblanc (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons), in the name of the Minister of Finance, introduced the first budget implementation bill, Bill C-15, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 22, 2016 and other measures.

Points of Order, Questions of Privilege and Procedure

Procedure

On March 10, 2016, the House adopted a motion by unanimous consent to permit a Minister of the Crown to make a statement pursuant to Standing Order 31 at the next sitting of the House. On March 11, 2016, in accordance with the motion, Lawrence MacAulay (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food) rose to pay tribute to a constituent who had recently passed away during Statements by Members.

On April 12, 2016, extending a practice in effect since 2010, the House adopted a motion to provide that the bells to call in Members shall sound for not more than 30 minutes for recorded divisions on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, with the exception of divisions held after Oral Questions. Due to ongoing construction on and around Parliament Hill and an expansion of the Parliamentary Precinct beyond the Parliament Hill boundaries, this practice was put into place to ensure Members have adequate time to return from offices and committee rooms to the House of Commons for a vote.

Points of Order

On April 18, 2016, Peter Julian (New Westminster--Burnaby) rose on a point of order concerning the admissibility of private Members' motion M-43 concerning the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, standing in the name of Pat Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge), scheduled to be debated that day. Mr. Julien alleged that the motion, which instructs a committee to draft and bring in a bill following which it would be added to the order of precedence in the name of Mr. Kelly, contravened

Standing Order 68(4), which grants Ministers of the Crown the exclusive power to introduce such motions. He further argued that as there is no provision for private Members to do the same, the motion must be inadmissible. Andrew Scheer (House Leader of the Official Opposition) argued that the motion was in order given that it was the practice of the House...

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