Journals of the Senate
51 Elizabeth II, A.D. 2003, Canada
Journals of the Senate
2nd Session, 37th Parliament
Issue 31 - Appendix
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
2:00 p.m.
The Honourable Daniel Hays, Speaker
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
The Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament has the honour to present its
SEVENTH REPORT
1. On October 31, 2002, the Senate referred to your Committee the recommendations and proposed rules contained in the Fourteenth Report of the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament presented to the Senate in the First Session of the 37th Parliament on June 11, 2002. Included in this order of reference was a proposal for a procedure to enable the Senate, following its approval of a report submitted by a select committee, to refer that report to the Government with a request for a comprehensive government response within 150 calendar days.
2. Subsequently, on November 5, 2002, the Senate agreed to refer the following motion of Senator Jane Cordy to your Committee:
That within 150 days, the Leader of the Government shall provide the Senate with a comprehensive government response to the report of the Standing Committee on National Security and Defence entitled Defence of North America: A Canadian Responsibility tabled on August 30, 2002.
3. As noted above, your Committee dealt with this issue in its Fourteenth Report in the previous Session, entitled Modernizing The Senate From Within: Updating The Senate Committee Structure: Issues Raised by Individual Senators. On May 17, 2001, the Senate had referred to your Committee a motion by Senator Gauthier, as amended by Senator Lynch-Staunton, that would have amended the Rules of the Senate to enable the Senate, after approving a report submitted by a standing committee, to refer that report to the Government with a request for a comprehensive response by the Minister within 90 days. The purpose of the motion was to equip the Senate with a procedure, comparable to that employed by the House of Commons, which would enhance its capacity to obtain a clear and public reaction from Governments to policy studies and recommendations developed by committees. Your Committee's Fourteenth Report, which was presented to the Senate on June 11, 2002, was not adopted by the Senate prior to the prorogation of the Session on September 16, 2002.
4. In the course of their deliberations, members of your Committee agreed that the work of the Senate was potentially undermined by the lack of any formal means of seeking a response from the Government to policy studies, and also agreed that this problem feeds a widespread perception in the media that such studies simply gather dust after they are tabled in the Senate Chamber.
5. Senate studies frequently contribute to the broad processes of debate and public policy formation by virtue of the strength of their findings and recommendations. However, the absence of tangible evidence of Government attention implies indifference to Parliament, and to the citizens it represents, that is unacceptable in a democratic system of government. As well, it impedes the capacity of committees to follow up on their work by assessing its impacts; threatens to undermine committee effectiveness by discouraging expert witnesses and Senators from making the necessary investments of time and effort; and fosters the impression that the public funds required for committee studies are not producing results.
6. Your Committee has considered practices established in the House of Commons and other jurisdictions, involving a procedural entitlement of committees to a formal Government response to their reports within a specified period of time. Although the quality of the responses provided by Governments varies considerably (and also varies among Ministers within governments), a formal response at least provides committees and the witnesses that have appeared before them with a tangible indication that reports have been given serious attention. Responses can also provide an initial focus for follow-up study.
7. While the Senate may request a Minister to appear before itself or its Committees, the Senate has no easy means to compel a minister of the Crown to respond to its reports. However, your Committee believes that the political pressures that would be associated with a public request for a response would normally be sufficient to ensure action from ministers, especially if the request is made on a committee's behalf by the Senate as a whole, and the time period is consistent with that employed by the House of Commons — 150 calendar days.
8. The proposed procedure would allow the Senate, following its approval of a report submitted by a committee, to refer that report to the Government with a request for a complete and detailed government response within 150 calendar days. The Leader of the Government in the Senate would be required to either table the Government's response within the 150-day period or provide the Senate with an explanation for the absence of such a response. Upon tabling of the response of the Government, it and the report would be referred back to the committee for review; where no response was received within the 150-day period, the report would be deemed to have been referred back to the committee. It will, of course, be up to the committee to decide whether to pursue the matter. In the absence of a response, the committee could decide to the call the relevant Minister or Ministers to review the matter. As in all cases where the Senate decides to invoke a procedure, it should be prepared to follow through, should its resolution be ignored.
9. Committees are created by and subordinate to the Senate, and they report to the chamber. In the case of committee reports that are tabled, rather than presented, no further action is required, although it is always open to the Senate to adopt such a report. The Senate may adopt all or any part of the report, and may make amendments to it. Several members of your Committee pointed out that reports are often the result of lengthy negotiation and compromise, and should not be divided or amended without the input of the committee tabling it. It is always open to the Senate to send a report back to a committee for re-consideration (although this is more difficult in the case of a special committee which has ceased to exist). Your Committee assumes that this proposal would be made in appropriate cases.
10. Your Committee wishes to note that the proposed procedure allows the Senate, not an individual committee, to request a government response. The 150-day time period runs only from when the request is passed by the Senate, not from when the report was tabled in the Senate. Moreover, it will be available only where the Senate had adopted a report from a select committee.
Your Committee recommends that the Rules of the Senate be amended as follows:
(a) by renumbering rule 131 as 131(1); and
(b) by adding after subsection 131(1) the following:
"Request for Government response
(2) The Senate may request that the Government provide a complete and detailed response to a report of a select Committee, which has been adopted by the Senate if either the report or the motion adopting the report contains such a request, or if a motion to that effect is adopted subsequent to the adoption of a report.
(3) Upon adoption of a report or motion pursuant to subsection (2), the Clerk shall communicate the request to the Government Leader who shall, within one hundred and fifty calendar days after the adoption of the report or motion, either table the Government's response or give an explanation for not doing so in the Senate.
(4) Where the Senate adopts a report or a motion pursuant to subsection (2), the report of the select committee and the response of the Government or the explanation of the Government Leader for the absence of a response, or the absence of such response or explanation, are deemed to be referred to the select committee one hundred and fifty calendar days after the adoption of the report.''
Respectfully submitted,
LORNA MILNE
Chair