moved:
That Standing Order 89 be amended by deleting the words “and of second reading of a private Member’s public bill originating in the Senate”; and Standing Order 86.2(2) be amended by deleting the words “a Senate public bill or”.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to my private members’ business motion M-277. I am grateful to my colleague, the member for Crowfoot, for having developed this initiative in the last Parliament. Given the urgency of the motion, the member asked me to bring the motion forward and I am happy and privileged to do so.
The motion proposes to change the House of Commons Standing Orders so that Senate private members’ business items are treated in the same way as House of Commons private members’ business items. It is very important that they be treated fairly. As all members of the House of Commons know, at the start of each Parliament a list of members for the consideration of private members’ business is established. A random draw is held to establish the order in which members’ names will be added to the order of precedence, which is the list of members’ bills and motions that will be considered by the House. Once the draw has been held, the order of precedence lists 30 members of the House who have the privilege of seeing their ideas, bills or motions debated in the House.
Of course, cabinet ministers, parliamentary secretaries, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are excluded from the list. The principle behind the establishment of the list is that each member should have an opportunity in a Parliament to have a private members’ business item—something that is important to the member, his or her constituents and all Canadians—debated in the House of Commons. This principle was enunciated in 2002 in the 66th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on private members’ business, a report that was very short and to the point.
Of course, a member can have one of his or her private members’ business items debated only if his or her name has been added to the order of precedence. Other members must wait until their name is transferred from the list to the order of precedence. This ensures a fair process for the consideration of private members’ business in the House. Unfortunately, there is a problem with the Standing Orders and that is why we have a motion before us today.
The problem is that our current rules treat Senate private members’ business differently from House private members’ business. Private members’ business items coming from the Senate to the House of Commons are automatically and immediately added to the order of precedence. I will repeat that, so we all understand: once they are sponsored and introduced by a member of the House of Commons private members’ bills coming from the Senate are automatically and immediately added to the order of precedence, ahead of the members of this House. This means that Senate private members’ business items get preferential treatment in the House of Commons, unlike bills by members of this House. Senate private members’ business items can jump the queue that is established for the management of House private members’ business items. Senators are taking advantage of the loophole in the Standing Orders and are sending an increasing number of private members’ bills to the House.
To be fair, let us look at what happens in the Senate. In the Senate, there is no list for the consideration of private members’ business or an order of precedence. Senate private members’ business items are introduced are added to the order paper and can be debated on any given day. However, in practice, the Senate rules allow the party with a majority in the Senate to control which private members’ items are advanced and which ones die on the order paper.
So, even if the Rules of the Senate provide for equal treatment in theory, in fact, this is not the case. And unlike the House, where a member can bring forward only one of his or her items in a Parliament, Senators can advance an unlimited number of private members’ business items. For example, Senator Grafstein has seven bills on the order paper in the Senate at the present time.
Some may say that we in this House should not worry about a few Senate private members' items. To them, I would point out that senators have already introduced 29 Senate private members' items. That is an average of one bill per day that the Senate has sat during this Parliament.
Since the order of precedence in the House is only replenished when the number of items falls to 15 after the House has dealt with private members' business items—as I said earlier, the order of precedence is made up of 30 private members' bills or motions—Senate private members' bills that are sent to the House and added to the order of precedence can delay the adding of new members of the House to the order of precedence.
That is why this procedure is unfair. Other members of the House have to wait indefinitely for the day their name appears on the order of precedence.
If senators keep introducing one new item per day, these items will be sent to the House, and the next members in line will not be able to bring their items forward until the fall or even later. It is basic math.
That is unfair to the members of this House who are awaiting the next replenishment of the order of precedence so they can bring forward one of their motions or bills. We need to ensure that the Standing Orders treat Senate private members' items the same way that House business items are treated. That is what my motion proposes to do, and I hope that many of the parties and members of the House will support it.
Motion M-277 would change the Standing Orders of the House of Commons so that members who are added to the order of precedence have to choose between bringing forward one of their items or sponsoring a Senate private member's bill. Members who want to sponsor a Senate private member's item would still be able to do so—but only when their name is added to the order of precedence.
This motion would provide for fairness in the way we handle House and Senate bills. Fair treatment will benefit all members of this House. I therefore call on all members of this House to support motion M-277.