moved for leave to introduce Bill C-319, An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (prorogation).
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present a bill inspired by the work of retired procedural clerk, Thomas Hall, which was published in the Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law in July 2020, entitled “Taming the Power to Prorogue Parliament”.
The bill goes hand in hand with my private member's motion, Motion No. 93, which seeks to establish some more explicit instructions on how the prime minister can judge whether he or she has the confidence of the House. However, this bill in particular would do three things that are meant to constrain the very broad power of prorogation the prime minister currently holds, without requiring a constitutional amendment.
Those three things are to ensure that prorogations do not last more than 10 sitting days, according to the House of Commons calendar; Parliament cannot be prorogued more than once in any 12-month period following the opening of the first session of Parliament; and Parliament cannot be prorogued between the day any estimates are presented to the House and the final supply day in that supply period.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)