Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to Bill S-34, an act respecting royal assent to bills passed by the Houses of Parliament.
The royal assent ceremony is based on the customs and conventions developed over previous centuries in the U.K. We rely on this ancient U.K. ceremony of royal assent for our own royal assent ceremony, which takes place in the Senate chamber.
I am sure that all members will agree that our royal assent ceremony is an important tradition of parliament. The ceremony lasts about 30 minutes and has taken place on 34 occasions in the course of the 36th and 37th parliaments. Each time a ceremony occurs, all MPs and senators must suspend their work on parliamentary business.
The royal assent ceremony requires the attendance of the Governor General or her deputy, a judge of the supreme court, who also have to suspend their work in order to attend the ceremony.
In recent decades, a number of issues related to royal assent have been identified by members of this House and the other place.
In 1983, the Senate launched discussions over alternatives to the procedure whereby the Governor General, in the Queen's name, signifies assent to bills passed by the Houses of Parliament.
In 1985, the standing rules and orders committee of the Senate issued its fourth report, recommending a change in the royal assent procedure. Also in 1985, in the House of Commons, the McGrath Committee Report on the Standing Orders recommended the simplification of royal assent.
In 1988, a bill on modernizing royal assent was introduced by the then leader of the government in the Senate. In 1988, the current leader of the opposition in the Senate introduced a similar bill.
The McGrath Committee and others have pointed to a number of issues regarding the royal assent ceremony. The ceremony interrupts the business of the House and the other place for approximately 30 minutes. This may have been appropriate in an earlier age, but in today's parliament, the need to stop all of the business of the House whenever royal assent is required no longer seems appropriate.
So, it is not surprising that other countries and provinces have acted to modernize the royal assent process by authorizing a written procedure for royal assent.
The traditional royal assent ceremony will also present members of this House with practical difficulties when renovations to the Centre Block begin, and continue over about eight years, with the House and Senate meeting in different buildings.
Particularly in the winter months, the maintenance of the traditional royal assent ceremony as the only way of signifying royal assent would be a burden on members of the House.
Members may be surprised to learn that Canada is the only Commonwealth country that still uses a traditional, but time consuming, royal assent ceremony on a regular basis as a sole procedure. Bill S-34 would aim to modernize the royal assent ceremony in keeping with what has been learned in other jurisdictions which share our parliamentary heritage.
In this regard members may be interested to know that the United Kingdom passed legislation in 1967 to allow royal assent by written declaration. In Australia the governor general's consent to bills is usually made known by a message to the president of the house of representatives and the speaker of the senate.
Other provinces also use the written process. In Ontario, in 1973, an all party agreement lead to the legislature waiving the formality of summoning the lieutenant governor to the chamber for royal assent. Except on special occasions the Ontario lieutenant governor now gives royal assent in her suite at Queen's Park. Quebec uses a written procedure which occurs in the offices of the lieutenant governor.
These practices by other Commonwealth countries and a number of provinces demonstrate that the written procedure of royal assent is purely a procedural matter. It does not alter the constitutional requirement for royal assent or affect the office and prerogatives of the governor general.
Section 55 of the Constitutional Act of 1867 requires that where a bill passed by the houses of parliament is presented to the Governor General for the Queen's assent, the Governor General shall declare, according to his or her discretion, whether he or she assents to the bill. This remains unaffected.
The leader of the government in the Senate has declared the Governor General's consent to the consideration of Bill S-34. It is a long-standing parliamentary practice and a matter of politeness and civility to seek royal consent before introducing any bill which might affect royal prerogatives. In keeping with this practice the government sought and obtained, and has been declared in the chambers, royal consent to proceed with Bill S-34 even if technically the bill does not affect royal prerogative since it is procedural in nature.
Bill S-34 would provide a way of maintaining an important parliamentary tradition in authorizing a simpler way of handling royal assent. First, it would preserve the royal assent ceremony as an important tradition by requiring its use twice in each calendar year including for the first appropriation bill of each session. Second, it would permit royal assent by written declaration.
The bill's provisions are procedural and relate to the form of signifying royal assent. The Governor General, or his or her deputy, would continue to exercise the royal prerogative of assent either in the Senate chamber when royal assent is done by way of ceremony or by a written declaration reported to the Speakers of the two houses of parliament. Both procedures would respect the convention that all three constituent elements of parliament, the Crown, the Senate and the House of Commons would be involved in royal assent.
By allowing royal assent by written procedure we would be able to address the concerns of a modern parliament and at the same time make the traditional ceremony a special and more visible part of our parliamentary process.
I am proud that Bill S-34 is a non-partisan bill which draws on the work of many members on both sides of this House and the other place. It follows on the McGrath Committee's recommendations. And it enjoyed the support of the leadership of both sides of the other place.
Royal assent by written declaration will remove a significant interruption in the business of this House, while preserving the royal assent ceremony as an ongoing tradition of parliament.
Bill S-34 is consistent with the practice of Commonwealth countries and provinces who use this process. For these reasons I would invite all hon. members to support the passage of this bill.