At this point, I want to make a ruling on the motion of Mr. Martin. The committee will know that on March 3 I rose in the House on a point of order related to the mandate of committees. The Speaker made a substantive ruling on March 14—that famous ruling regarding anarchy in committees. The substance of my point of order had to do with committees adopting work beyond the scope of their committee mandate as outlined in the Standing Orders.
I want to point out to members that under the Standing Orders of the House of Commons, 108(3)(a), the mandate of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs is laid out. Standing Order 108(3)(a)(iii) authorizes
the review of and report on the Standing Orders, procedure and practice in the House and its committees;
Standing Order 108(3)(a)(viii) authorizes
the review of and report on all matters relating to the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons.
The Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons is included in the appendix to the Standing Orders.
I have in the past stated that the chair must reflect the Standing Orders and that the chair should defend and uphold the Standing Orders as they are. In the Speaker's ruling, he repeated that the committee is the master of its own work order and agenda, but that there are possible consequences, and that among these is the ruling out of order, by the Speaker, of any report of the committee on a matter not within its mandate.
Accordingly, to be consistent with my past rulings and representations, I must rule Mr. Martin's motion out of order.
Mr. Martin.