Accordingly, it is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 81(14) to inform the House that the following two notices of motion have been filed with the Clerk.
The votable motion standing in the name of the hon. member for Wetaskiwin reads as follows:
That this House support the election of senators, who would then have a democratic mandate to carry out their constitutional responsibilities, by calling on the Prime Minister to take an important first step toward this goal and appoint Burt Brown, who was duly elected as a Senator by the Province of Alberta, to fill the upcoming Alberta vacancy in the Senate.
The other votable motion, standing in the name of the hon. member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast reads as follows:
That Standing Order 106 be amended
(a) by replacing section (2) with the following:
“(2) At the commencement of every session and, if necessary, during the course of the session, each standing or special committee shall elect a Chair and two Vice-Chairs, of whom the Chair and one Vice-Chair shall be Members of the government party and one Vice-Chair shall be a Member of the Opposition. In the case of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, the Chair shall continue to be a Member of the Official Opposition and the Vice-Chairs shall be Members of the government party. In the case of the Standing Joint Committee on Scrutiny of Regulations, the Co-Chair acting on behalf of the House shall be a Member of the Official Opposition and the Vice-Chairs shall be Members of the government party.”
(b) by inserting the following new section (3):
“(3) When more than one candidate is nominated for the office of Chair or Vice-Chair of a committee, the election shall be conducted by secret ballot as follows:
(a) the clerk of the committee, who shall preside over the election, shall announce the candidates to the committee members present and provide them with ballot papers;
(b) committee members wishing to indicate their choice for Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the committee shall print the first and last names of the candidate on the ballot paper;
(c) the committee members shall deposit their completed ballot papers in a box provided for that purpose;
(d) the clerk of the committee shall count the ballots and announce the name of the candidate who has received the majority of votes;
(e) if no candidate has received a majority of votes, a second ballot shall be taken, provided that the candidate with the least number of votes shall be dropped from the second ballot; balloting shall continue in this manner until a candidate receives the majority of votes, at which time the clerk shall destroy the ballots and in no way divulge the number of ballots cast for any candidate.”;
and that the Clerk be authorized to make any required editorial and consequential amendments and that the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs conduct a review of this new procedure before a second application takes place.
Copies of the motions are available at the table.
Having received two notices of motion, pursuant to Standing Order 84(14)(c), tomorrow, if required, I will determine which motion shall have precedence.