House of Commons.

• Author: Agha, Samy
• Position: Legislative Report

The second session of the 40th Parliament was prorogued by proclamation on December 30, 2009 until March 3, 2010.

Supply

On December 1, 2009, the Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, tabled with the Clerk of the House of Commons "Canada's Economic Action Plan--A Fourth Report to Canadians", pursuant to the Order made on Tuesday, February 3, 2009. A point of order was raised the following day protesting the Prime Minister's announcement of the economic update on a plane rather than before Parliament. The Speaker ruled that "however novel the Prime Minister's lock up may seem I must conclude that there has been no breach of our procedures since the actual tabling of the document here at the House of Commons was entirely in keeping with our practice".

Also on December 1, the NDP moved the following supply day motion: "That, in the opinion of the House, the government should ... call a Public Inquiry into the transfer of detainees in Canadian custody to Afghan authorities from 2001 to 2009". The motion was adopted on a recorded division of 145 to 129.

On December 10, the seventh and final allotted day of the supply period, the Liberal opposition day motion ordered that the government produce all documents relevant to the issue of the transfer of Afghan detainees "in their original and uncensored form". In response to objections to the motion, the Speaker ruled it admissible because a request for documents "is something that could reasonably be requested on a supply day". The motion, as amended, was adopted on a recorded division of 146 to 143.

Pursuant to the order made on June 19, 2009, the Speaker tabled on November 25, 2009 a proposed formula for the distribution of allotted days for 2010. On November 26, it was agreed by unanimous consent that Standing Order 81(10) be amended to allow for at least one and no more than two opposition days to be held in each ten sitting day period.

Legislation

With the use of closure, a special order seeking to expedite the passage of Bill C-62 was adopted by the House on December 7, 2009. Bill C-62, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act, implements harmonized tax frameworks in Ontario and British Columbia.

The special order allotted not more than one sitting day for the consideration of second reading, including committee consideration, and not more than one sitting day for report and third reading stages. The second reading motion was adopted on December 8, following which the Standing Committee on Finance considered the bill and deposited with the Clerk of the House of Commons its report without amendment before 11 p.m. After several report...