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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE |
WEDNESDAY, June 29, 2005 |
The Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament
has the honour to present its
FIFTH REPORT
Pursuant to its order of reference from the Senate dated June 16, 2005, your Committee is pleased to report as follows.
1. On June 16, 2005, the Senate adopted the following motion that had been introduced by Senator Rompkey:
That, in order to facilitate references to the various classes of bills introduced in the Senate, namely government bills, public bills or private bills presented by Senators, the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament be authorized to examine and report upon establishing a new system of numbering for Senate bills.
2. On June 21, 2005, your Committee heard from Dr. Gary O’Brien, Deputy Clerk and Principal Clerk of the Senate, and Mr. Charles Robert, Principal Clerk, Procedure, of the Senate.
3. The Senate’s current practice is to assign numbers sequentially to bills following their presentation. In other words, bills introduced in the Senate are numbered consecutively, with no indication as to whether they are government bills, Senate public bills, or private bills.
4. As Dr. O’Brien explained, Senate bills were originally designated by letters. This system remained until 1958, when Senate bills began to be identified numerically and divorce bills were distinguished from non-divorce bills. The lack of differentiation between different types of bills stems from the time when there was no procedural distinction between bills introduced by the Government or individual Senators.
5. In the House of Commons, since 1974, Government bills are numbered consecutively from C-2 to C-200, while private Members’ bills are numbered consecutively from C-201 to C-1000. Although private bills are rarely introduced in the House, they are numbered beginning at C-1001.
6. The proposal is to develop a new numbering system for Senate bills. The classification of bills would avoid on-going confusion, facilitate references within Parliament and among the public, and clarify the applicable procedures.
7. Your Committee agrees that a new system of numbering Senate bills would be appropriate. After consideration of various options, including the practices in other legislatures, your Committee believes that the simplest solution would be to adopt a numbering system that parallels that of the House of Commons. (Bill S-1 would continue to the pro forma bill that is introduced at the beginning of each session of Parliament.)
Your Committee recommends that, beginning with the next session of Parliament, the Senate adopt a system for numbering Senate bills as follows:
S-2 to S-200 will be reserved for bills introduced by the Government;
S-201 to S-1000 will be reserved for Senate public bills introduced by individual Senators; and
S-1001 and up will be reserved for private bills.
Respectfully submitted,
David P. Smith
Chair