House of Commons.

• Author: Chaplin, Andrew Bartholomew
• Position: Legislative Reports

This account covers events in the continuing First Session of the 43rd Parliament from January to the end of March 2020.

Legislation

Having considered the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne during the few sittings in December, the government called it for debate on January 27. The House adopted the Address without amendment later that day.

On January 29, Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs) introduced Bill C-4, An Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States, after the House adopted Ways and Means motion No. 2. The Bill went through second reading and to the Standing Committee on International Trade, which reported it back to the House without amendment on February 27. Debate on the Bill at third reading, however, was overtaken by events surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (see below). It received Royal Assent by written declaration on March 13.

Procedure / Privilege

On December 13, 2019, Peter Julian (New Westminster--Burnaby) rose on a question of privilege to allege that the government was in contempt of the House by failing to comply with an opposition motion adopted by the House that called on the government to comply with a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision.

On January 27, the Speaker ruled that the motion had been worded in such a way as to constitute a nonbinding resolution rather than an order. He further ruled that the House does not have the power to compel the government to act in this area.

In his ruling, the Speaker also outlined how he envisioned hearing from Members when a question of privilege has been raised. He noted that, in the interests of timeliness, Members should refrain from citing precedents already available in the authorities. He also reserved the right to cut off interventions when he felt he had heard enough. He further noted his desire to rule on questions of privilege as quickly as possible so that matters would not be left in abeyance.

On February 19, 2020, following Routine Proceedings, Earl Dreeshen (Red Deer--Mountain View) rose on a question of privilege to allege that Seamus O'Regan (Minister of Natural Resources) had misled the House in his response to a question on the Order Paper. He asserted that the government's statement regarding contracts awarded to the Pembina Institute were inconsistent with statements made by the government in other public documents.

The next day, Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons) rose to respond to the question, saying that the question concerned...