Honourable senators, I would like to come back to the point of order raised by Senator McPhedran. The request is that I exercise the authority of the Speaker to split the vote on Bill C-5. In the Senate there is only one known case of the Speaker having done this, as addressed in a statement by Speaker Kinsella on November 5, 2013. At that time the Senate was dealing with a quite complicated substantive motion that dealt with a number of very distinct issues. The motion was drafted in such a way that separate votes were feasible.

The Rules of the Senate contain no provisions dealing with the separation of votes on a bill, either at second or third reading. The situation is different in the House of Commons, which has a provision in its Standing Orders expressly governing separate votes on provisions of a government bill in some situations. This is what happened last Friday.

I would remind senators that the motion for the reading of a bill is actually very simple: “That the bill be read a second (or third) time.” This simple motion, on its face, is not amenable to separate decisions.

If the Senate were to make a decision on a motion for the second or third reading of a bill in more than one vote, and rejected one of them, this would be equivalent to making an amendment. Our Rules and procedures do not allow amendments to the text of a bill at second reading. Unlike the House of Commons, however, our procedures do allow amendments to the text of a bill to be proposed at third reading, and this provides a far more direct and clear way for senators to propose amendments, and that has the benefit that it is in line with normal procedure.

To summarize: the question for the reading of the bill is not a complicated one, separate votes on the second reading motion are not feasible, and, finally, normal procedures and practices can be used to propose changes to the text of the bill during third reading debate. This gives ample opportunity for senators to refine Bill C-5 if they so wish.

As such, if a standing vote is requested, it will not be split, either at second or at third reading.