Legislative reports: Senate.

• Author: Mussell, Mary

The Second Session of the Thirty-seventh Parliament opened on September 30 with a Speech from the Throne read by the Governor General in the Senate Chamber. Although not yet occupied with a heavy legislative agenda, the Senate expected to deal with the usual business related to the beginning of any new session. This included the appointment of a Committee of Selection with the duties of nominating a Speaker pro tempore and the membership of committees. However, points of order concerning the Committee of Selection, in addition to questions of privilege on other subjects, were raised and preoccupied the Senate as it eased into its work schedule.

Speaker's Rulings

Senator Lowell Murray raised several issues relating to the Opening of Parliament and the Speech from the Throne in his point of order on October 2. His initial complaint had to do with the sound system but he was also concerned about the lack of decorum shown by some senators and guests in the gallery who applauded during the Speech from the Throne. Other Senators intervened in support of Senator Murray and added their own observations to the point of order. After lengthy consideration, the Speaker ruled on October 29 that there was little he could do to control the proceedings connected to the Speech from the Throne. However, he undertook to prepare a document which he hoped would help to explain the traditions and practices of the Opening of Parliament to those who would attend the next opening.

The appointment of the Committee of Selection is an important step in the legislative process for it is not until that committee is formed that it can nominate, not only a Speaker pro tempore, but the membership of committees so that the best known work of the Senate can begin in earnest.

The disagreement about the Committee of Selection began on October 3 when Senator Noel A. Kinsella, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, proposed a motion in amendment that based the nomination of Senators to select committees on the principle that one third of the membership of all committees would be from the official opposition. At that point in the debate, Senator Fernand Robichaud, Deputy Leader of the Government, rose on a point of order to protest the motion in amendment which he understood to be an instruction to a committee requiring notice. The Speaker did not agree, however, and ruled that the amendment simply expanded the order of reference and was in order.

Government Leader Sharon Carstairs, on...