The Chair would like to take a moment to come back to the House on a point of order raised yesterday by the member for Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna concerning whether quoting from a document or book during an intervention in the House violates our rule against using props during debate.
House of Commons Procedure and Practice, fourth edition, section 13.26, notes:
Props of any kind have always been found to be unacceptable in the chamber, especially when they cause disorder.
The same section also states the following: Moreover, Speakers have consistently ruled that visual displays used by members to illustrate their remarks or emphasize their positions are out of order.... For example, members may hold notes in their hands, but they will be interrupted and reprimanded by the Speaker if they use papers, documents or other printed material to illustrate their remarks. Printed material that has been ruled out of order includes advertisements, newspapers, books, business cards and money.
However, regarding the use of books, members are generally allowed to quote from them in support of their arguments, including when they rise on a point of order to inform the Speaker of a potential breach of the rules or practices of the House. Conversely, waving a book around, pointing to it or using it as a rhetorical device to bolster a statement is not acceptable.
The member for Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna also indicated in his point of order that members should be allowed to quote from a book when needed in the course of debate. The Chair would fully concur with this assertion, and the Chair confirms that members are allowed to quote from books so long as the same are not used to emphasize their position.
We can now proceed with the Thursday question.
I apologize for interrupting the hon. member.