Proceedings of the Committee on
Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament
Issue 2 - Third and Fourth Reports of the Committee
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
The Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament has the honour to present its
THIRD REPORT
On Wednesday, November 6, 2002, Senator Joseph A. Day moved, seconded by the Honourable Senator Baker, the following motion:
That the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence be authorized to adjourn from place to place within and outside Canada for the purpose of pursuing its study.
Debate on this motion was adjourned. The following day, Thursday, November 17, an amendment was moved by Senator Sharon Carstairs, P.C., seconded by the Honourable Senator Robichaud, P.C., that the question be referred to the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament. Subsequently, Senator Noel A. Kinsella moved, seconded by the Honourable Senator Stratton, that the motion in amendment be amended by adding the words: ``That the Committee report back to the Senate on this matter no later than November 21, 2002.'' The motion in amendment, as amended, was adopted by the Senate:
That the question be referred to the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedure and the Rights of Parliament; and
That the committee report to the Senate no later than November 21.
Your Committee has been advised that the specific proposed trip that gave rise to the original motion has been postponed. As this order of reference raises a number of important issues, partly covered by the Procedural Guidelines adopted by the Senate on March 26, 2002 (now contained in Appendix II to the Rules of the Senate), which must be considered by your Committee, and given its current workload, your Committee recommends that the deadline for reporting back to the Senate on this order of reference be deleted.
Respectfully submitted
Thursday, November 21, 2002
The Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament has the honour to present its
FOURTH REPORT
Pursuant to its authority under Rule 86(1)(f)(iii), your Committee is pleased to report as follows:
On October 23, 2002, Senator Lowell Murray, P.C., raised a question of privilege in the Senate regarding the announced intention of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology to deposit a report with the Clerk of the Senate on Friday October 25, rather than tabling it on a day when the Senate was sitting. The Speaker pro tempore made her ruling on October 24, in which she stated that there was no prima facie question of privilege because the Senate had granted permission to the Committee to deposit any report with the Clerk without qualification.
Senator Michael Kirby, the chair of the Committee, in responding to Senator Murray's question of privilege on October 23, suggested that there were a number of issues related to the practice of depositing committee reports with the Clerk that needed clarification and that it would be useful to have the matter studied by the Standing Committee on Rules, Privileges and the Rights of Parliament.
Your Committee considered this matter at meetings on Tuesday, November 5, 2002, Wednesday, November 6, and Tuesday, November 19, during which, various concerns, issues and considerations were canvassed.
Your Committee notes that there are two ways to get a report before the Senate: presentation and tabling. Reports that are presented to the Senate — where the Senate is required to take a further decision in respect of the report, such as bills, committee budgets or requests from committees for certain powers — should never be deposited with the Clerk, but should always be provided to the Senate during a sitting. On the other hand, reports that are tabled — essentially reports for the information of the Senate, which would include substantive reports on special studies — can, in exceptional cases, be authorized to be deposited with the Clerk.
The general principle is that committee reports must be provided to the Senate before they can be released to the public and media, or otherwise made available. This is based primarily on the pre-eminent right of the Senate to have reports of its committees tabled or presented and made available first to its members prior to being released to the general public. At the same time, it is in the interest of the Senate that the important work of its committees gets the widest public exposure, and, in this regard, committees have been required for several years to develop communications strategies in connection with their studies and reports. The usual right of the Senate to receive reports first and the demands of publicizing committee reports are not mutually exclusive, although, on occasion, they may need to be reconciled. The authority to deposit reports may also be useful during lengthy adjournments in the summer and winter or in anticipation of a prorogation or dissolution of Parliament, to ensure that the work of the committee is not lost or unduly delayed.
Your Committee makes the following recommendations:
That since the authority to deposit a committee report with the Clerk can only be granted by the Senate, in determining whether to agree to such an authorization, all Senators should be made aware that they are waiving their right to have the report tabled first in the Chamber, and should, accordingly, consider such motions carefully.
That in developing communications strategies for the release of committee reports, all committees must take into account that reports should first be tabled in the Senate before being released to the media, unless there are compelling reasons to do otherwise
That motions authorizing the deposit of a report with the Clerk should not be made as part of a general order of reference to a committee, but, rather, the motion authorizing such deposition should be moved as close to the reporting date as possible, by which time the sitting schedule of the Senate is more likely to be known and a communications strategy will have been developed.
That, in proposing such a motion, the Chair of a Senate committee has the responsibility to advance compelling reasons and arguments as to why the Senate should depart from the requirement for the tabling of a committee report in the usual way.
That, in any event, when authority is given to a committee to deposit a report with the Clerk, it is incumbent upon the Chair, in consultation with members of the steering committee and staff, that they be required to ensure that all Senators are provided with advance notice of the impending tabling; copies of the report are released immediately upon its being deposited; and information on the report is made available at the earliest opportunity — by means of electronic distribution, briefings, and so forth.
Respectfully submitted
LORNA MILNE
Chair of the Committee