Mr. Speaker, it was not my intention this morning to make submissions with regard to the point of privilege I raised with you prior to the adjournment of the House on June 19, 1996. As the sponsor of Bill C-234, I feel compelled to make submissions with respect to this point of privilege.
It seems the matter before the House this morning is not one that is partisan in nature but one that deserves the very careful consideration of the Chair.
I am not about to impute any motives to the Justice committee or to any other committee as to the reasons why it may or may not have decided to report my bill back to the House.
Mr. Speaker is the custodian of the rights and privileges of all members of Parliament in the House. That is why I request that you not deal with this matter summarily and render a decision today, but rather that you reserve judgment on this matter and give careful consideration not simply to the precedents because, as you know, the precedents could be interpreted in many different ways, but that you look at this issue from the point of reference of today.
Given the commitment of various committees of the House and the government for parliamentary reform, it is important to look at the private members' process. In my respectful submission, if there is to be any integrity at all to the private members' process it should not be left up to the majority of government members of any given committee, whether it be the present government or any other government, to undermine the process or the integrity of the process in any way.
All members of this House have committed themselves to parliamentary reform. When the supreme body on Parliament Hill, the House of Commons, makes a decision with respect to a bill, I would suggest to you, Mr. Speaker, that it is not up to a committee of this House, even a standing committee of this House, to thwart the wishes of the House of Commons itself.
The House of Commons passed Bill C-234 dealing with the repeal of section 745 of the Criminal Code, a provision which allows first degree killers to apply for early release. This House in its wisdom decided at second reading to support the bill in principle and to refer it to the committee. That was the decision of the House. If you allow the decision of the justice committee to stand, in effect you are allowing the justice committee to thwart the wishes of this House.
What did this House want to happen to that particular bill? It wanted the bill to be sent to committee for consideration. Presumably everyone in this House expected at some point after due consideration and recommendation from the committee that it would be brought back to this House for further consideration and for a final vote.
This is an important matter. If we as members of the House of Commons are truly committed to parliamentary reform and to the whole private members' process, I would ask, Mr. Speaker, that you rule that the committee was not within its jurisdiction to do as it did.
In conclusion I should also point out that my office has been advised that this is a practice which is developing as of late, the practice of standing committees of this House deciding not to refer back to the House of Commons matters that have been referred to them by the House of Commons. Mr. Speaker, I think you should take note of that fact as well.