Quebec.

• Author: Ford, Sylvia
• Position: Legislative Reports

National Assembly proceedings

Extraordinary sitting

On June 14, 2018, at the request of Premier Philippe Couillard, the Assembly held an extraordinary sitting to conclude the consideration of Bill 400, An Act to amend the Act respecting the estate of the Honourable Treffle Berthiaume and La Compagnie de Publication de La Presse, Limitee. After a five-hour sitting, the bill was passed on the following division: Yeas 76, Nays 24, Abstentions 0.

Composition of the National Assembly

On April 8, 2018, owing to the prolonged convalescence of Pascal Berube, Official Opposition House Leader (Parti Quebecois) and Member for Matane-Matapedia, the Leader of the Official Opposition, Jean-Francois Lisee, named Carole Poirier, Member for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, as Official Opposition House Leader and Mathieu Traversy, Member for Terrebonne, as Deputy Opposition House Leader. These Members were reappointed to their previous offices upon Mr. Berube's return, on May 9, 2018.

In the spring, the Chair was informed that Yves St-Denis, Member for Argenteuil, and Paul Busque, Member for Beauce-Sud, were no longer members of the caucus of the parliamentary group forming the Government (Quebec Liberal Party), respectively since April 17 and May 10, 2018, and that they would henceforth sit as independent Members. Then, on June 15, 2018, the Chair was informed that the Member for Beauce-Sud had rejoined the Government caucus.

On June 15, 2018, the composition of the National Assembly was as follows: Quebec Liberal Party, 67 Members; Parti Quebecois, 28 Members; Coalition Avenir Quebec, 21 Members; three Members sitting under the Quebec Solidaire banner and six independent Members.

Estimates of expenditure and passage of Appropriation Act No. 2, 2018-2019

On April 17, 2018, the debate on the budget speech ended with recorded divisions on the Government's budgetary policy and on the motions stating a grievance moved within the framework of this debate. On May 3, 2018, following the committees' consideration of the estimates of expenditure, the Assembly examined the estimates of the National Assembly in Committee of the Whole and, at the sitting of May 8, adopted the 2018-2019 estimates and Bill 180, Appropriation Act No. 2, 2018-2019.

Bills passed

From April to June 2018, the National Assembly passed 28 bills, including seven private bills and one private Member's public bill. Of particular note are the following:

* Bill 128, An Act to promote the protection of persons by establishing a framework with regard to dogs;

* Bill 141, An Act mainly to improve the regulation of the financial sector, the protection of deposits of money and the operation of financial institutions;

* Bill 157, An Act to constitute the Societe quebecoise du cannabis, to enact the Cannabis Regulation Act and to amend various highway safety-related provisions;

* Bill 165, An Act to amend the Highway Safety Code and other provisions;

* Bill 171, An Act to enact the Act respecting the implementation of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement and to bring measures relating to contracting by public bodies into compliance with that agreement, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between Ontario and Quebec and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union and its Member States;

* Bill 173, An Act mainly to introduce a basic income for persons with a severely limited capacity for employment;

* Bill 176, An Act to amend the Act respecting labour standards and other legislative provisions mainly to facilitate family-work balance;

* Bill 187, An Act to protect the confidentiality of journalistic sources;

* Bill 1094, An Act to proclaim Hispanic Heritage Month.

Reports from the Ethics Commissioner for the Members of the National Assembly

On April 19, 2018, the Member for Groulx raised a matter of breach of privilege or contempt in which he alleged that the ad hoc Ethics Commissioner for the Members of the National Assembly, Jacques Saint-Laurent, had violated his rights and privileges in the report he tabled on November 30, 2017 regarding the Member. Note that on December 6, 2017, the Assembly concurred in the ad hoc Commissioner's report, which recommended that a sanction be imposed on the Member for Groulx.

The Chair having declared the point of privilege to be prima facie admissible (see ruling of May 10, 2018 under the heading "Rulings and directives from the Chair"), the Member for Groulx availed himself of his right to move a motion, pursuant to Standing Orders 324 to 327, impugning the ad hoc Commissioner's conduct. On May 16, during the debate on this motion, the Assembly carried a motion to mandate the Committee on the National Assembly (CNA) to investigate whether the ad hoc Ethics Commissioner stated that he wanted to scapegoat the Member for Groulx. The CNA thus mandated the National Assembly's jurisconsult to investigate the matter and, in a report tabled in the Assembly on June 11, it concluded that the ad hoc Commissioner had not violated the rights and privileges of the Member for Groulx and recommended that the Member publicly apologize.

On June 13, 2018, following a...