Bill C-30 (Historical)

Senate Ethics Act

An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts

This enactment amends the Parliament of Canada Act to eliminate the position of Senate Ethics Officer and to transfer the duties and functions of that Officer to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts of Parliament.

Senate Ethics Act

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

I appreciate the assistance that hon. members have given to the Chair with this matter. I will reference from page 522 of the House of Commons Procedure and Practice, where it says:

In debate, the Senate is generally referred to as “the other place” and Senators as “members of the other place”. References to Senate debates and proceedings are discouraged and it is out of order to question a Senator's integrity, honesty or character. This “prevents fruitless arguments between Members of two distinct bodies who are unable to reply to each other, and guards against recrimination and offensive language in the absence of the other party.”

I believe it is fair to say that the practice of referring to members of the other place by their given name is discouraged and is not the common practice in this place. Use of first and last names is discouraged. There does not appear to be a rule that absolutely forbids it.

A couple of members have commented that possibly it is appropriate to refer to them by their family name, but not by their first name. I see no such reference in this book, but I also appreciate that in a debate regarding the Senate, where members would like to refer to statements made by individual senators who do not represent a particular riding, that it is difficult.

Therefore, I leave this in the hands of the hon. members and close by saying it is generally discouraged and is not something that often happens, but to the best of what I can see in the rules, it is not explicitly forgiven.

The hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if I understand correctly, I am not being called to order.

What I said was in no way an attack on the integrity of the people and the senators I named. Rather, I was questioning the decisions, the integrity and the transparency of the Conservative government. I want to be very clear on that. I understand from your judgment that this practice is discouraged, but I am not necessarily being called to order.

Can you confirm this?

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

I appreciate the question. My reading of the rules is that referring to individual members is discouraged, particularly if a criticism or attack is being launched against a member of the other place when the member has no opportunity to defend himself or herself here. I think the hon. member is saying that she made passing references to individual senators. As I said before, I do not see an explicit rule that forbids it. It is simply discouraged in this place.

The clock has been stopped during this proceeding. When we return to this matter, the hon. member will have three minutes remaining.

It being 5:30 p.m., the House will now proceed to the consideration of private members' business as listed on today's order paper.