Order, please. The conduct of the chair is not the question before the House. The question before the House today, on a point of order raised by the right hon. member for Calgary Centre, concerns the admissibility of amendments at report stage. That is the issue I intend to deal with now. It has nothing to do with the conduct of the chair of the committee.
I would like to thank the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot for his explanation, as well as the hon. member for York South—Weston, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, the hon. member for Halifax and the Right hon. member for Calgary Centre.
I will not issue a new set of guidelines dealing with the admissibility of amendments at the report stage of bills. The guidelines that have been put to the House are contained in the standing orders and which I indicated I would enforce because the right hon. member will recall that the House adopted a motion dealing with the whole issue of the enforcement of the standing orders and the guidelines therein that resulted in the ruling that I made a couple of years ago now. I believe the ruling set out for all the guidelines that would apply. The guideline was very clear: that if it is impossible to move the amendment in committee it can be moved at the report stage.
If the committee by a motion made it impossible for the right hon. member to move some amendments in the committee, he will want to make that argument on an individual basis with respect to each of his amendments when he presents them at the report stage. He will have a sympathetic ear with the Speaker and with the clerks who advise the Speaker in respect of these matters.
However this has happened before, perhaps not precisely the same circumstances, but I recall, particularly in respect of the reproductive technologies legislation, that the hon. member for Mississauga South moved a number of amendments at the report stage because he was told he could not move his amendments in committee, and that is the only reason I admitted them at the report stage.
These things happen from time to time in our proceedings. The Chair will be sympathetic with the right hon. member, indeed with all hon. members who, for one reason or another, found they could not move their amendment at the committee stage, which is exactly what the guideline was.
If it can be moved there and could have been moved there it will not be accepted. If it was not moved there and could not have been moved there it may well be accepted by the Chair.
I want to reassure the right hon. member that the Chair will exercise due diligence in reviewing these matters with him or any other hon. member who chooses to come forward with an amendment at report stage and I will do my very best to be fair in all circumstances.
I appreciate that there has been substantial disagreement about the way in which this committee has operated because I heard about it in the House on a number of occasions.
I know that the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot has been very patiently awaiting a decision on a question of privilege that he raised a few weeks ago.
Perhaps we will wait until the committee work is completed because there really is nothing the Speaker can do to change the committee process under the circumstances. However, a ruling will undoubtedly be made soon on this issue and I am sure the hon. member will, as usual, be very pleased with it.
I wish to inform the House the good news that because of the deferred recorded divisions government orders will be extended by 28 minutes.