Evidence of meeting #23 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was point.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
In fact, I think we will do what someone suggested earlier and take a five-minute coffee break.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
If I understood you correctly, Mr. Bélanger, you are referring to what is known as a dilatory motion. Is that right?
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
I move that we proceed to the consideration of the report.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
This is what the House of Commons procedure and practice says on the subject:
A dilatory motion is a motion designed to dispose of the original question before the committee, either for the time being or permanently. Dilatory motions do not require notice, nor can they be amended or debated. They are therefore put to a vote immediately. If a dilatory motion is accompanied by a condition, it becomes a substantive motion. It is then subject to the rules on the admissibility of such motions. It becomes debatable and amendable. The main dilatory motions deemed admissible in committee include:…“That the Committee proceed [to another order of business]”…
In the case before us, you are proposing that we proceed to…
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
—the study of immigration as a development tool in official language minority communities.
If the motion is passed, the committee will proceed immediately to study the matter mentioned in the motion.
I rule that this is a dilatory motion admissible under the procedures. We are going to vote on the motion in question. Those in favour of the motion?
Before voting on the motion, we have a point of order.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
This is a point of order.
So you're ruling that a motion that's on the order paper as the first item of business....
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
I am sorry. Mr. Wallace is an associate member of the committee.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
I'm asking a point of order. Am I not recognized, or what's the scoop?
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
He is not talking about a vote, he is raising a point of order. So he has the right to speak.
Mr. Wallace, I can hear you.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're doing a fine job as chair, by the way. It's the first time I've experienced you as the chairman of a committee, and you're doing an excellent job.
From a point of order perspective, I just want to be clear that I understand. The agenda items were presented here on the agenda. We went to the first item on the agenda, and you started the debate on that first item. Now you're allowing another committee member to overrule the order that's presented in the orders of the day and to move another item to be before that.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
I think I still have the floor.
So you're allowing that to happen. If that is your ruling and they move that, when will the motion on which debate was previously started move back on to the order paper?
9:45 a.m.
An hon. member
He's not debating. He's asking a question about a point of order.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
It's an actual point of order, not some of the stuff you guys have been doing. It's actually about procedure. Points of order are about the procedure of a committee. This is about the procedure of the agenda. This is an actual point of order based on the nice green book that all of us have read, I'm assuming.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
OK, listen.
if I want to give an opinion on his point, I have to listen to his point.
I am on the point of order raised by Mr. Wallace. Earlier, I heard a point of order from Mr. Asselin. Then I made my ruling. I am going to do the same with Mr. Wallace.
9:45 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Chair, I just want to know what is happening. You said just now that you are not required to take points of order on this matter. We cannot debate it. He said that it was a point of information.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Absolutely. We will not debate the motion. But there is a point of order. At the moment, I am listening to the matter raised by Mr. Wallace as a point of order.
Mr. Wallace, please make your--
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
My point was that you're making a ruling to change the order after we've already started the debate. When does the motion from Madam Glover come back onto the order paper? When do we start that up again? Does it just drop by one? Where does that go? That's what I want to know.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Actually, I consider your point of order as a question on how we will proceed. What Mr. Bélanger suggested is a motion that is not debatable, and now we have to vote. That's why we are about to proceed to the vote, and indeed the committee can go the way it wishes to go, as long as a decision is made. Your point is--
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
So Mr. Bélanger has put forward a non-debatable motion. Let's assume, for argument's sake, it passes. When does her item come back onto the agenda as the item we're dealing with?
