Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 8th, 2016

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Yes, there was some sort of rule around it, I think.

[Arnold Chan, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

I'm going to read Standing Order 31, which simply says,

A Member may be recognized, under the provisions of Standing Order 30(5), to make a statement of not more than one minute. The Speaker may order a Member to resume his or her seat if, in the opinion of the Speaker, improper use is made of this Standing Order.

[An hon. member]

Without ever defining what proper use is.

[Arnold Chan, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Without ever defining what that means.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

That's why they have a Speaker.

[Arnold Chan, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

It's really at the discretion of the Speaker.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I don't agree with this proposal, because I don't think you could define “non-partisan statements”.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

That's too suggestive.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

You're at number 9 after this.

You're talking about number 8, the definition of it, if we wanted to do that.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Everything that happens in Parliament is theoretically of interest and concern to constituents, so I don't...it's such a subjective thing that it's pointless.

[Dara Lithwick, Committee Researcher]

We were at number 8, and now you're about to start number 9.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

The Speaker in the last Parliament did remind people occasionally when people were using their S. O. 31 statements to attack.... I can't remember.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Yes, he was dressing people down for that. He got up and made a ruling that he wouldn't allow it anymore, and if it happened, then the member would be shut off.

[Arnold Chan, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Well, if you're attacking a specific member, yes.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Yes, I think it was maybe even a bit more broad than just a specific member. It's attacking a member or using a...“partisan” isn't quite the word I'm looking for, but if you were using them as attack statements, even on the other parties or whatever.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

It sounds like this is worth further discussion, so just to keep the discussion going, I'll sponsor it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Get your name on the list.

Number nine.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

So that's championed?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Yes.

Topic 9 is on notice of questions: add a requirement for notice of a question to be submitted before it can be asked.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Not a requirement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Is there no champion?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

It's good practice if you want an answer, but it's not a requirement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Topic 10 is a Prime Minister questions day: designate a question period for questions to the Prime Minister.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

I'm not arguing for it, but he does only come one day a week now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Topic 11 is on repetition: restrict number of times the same question can be posed and prohibit repetition of answers.

Mr. Chan, are you championing that?