Point of Order
April 11, 2019
Your Honour, on a point of order, as the current Deputy Leader of the Opposition and former Deputy Leader of the Government, and having served 10 years in this chamber, I find this message quite extraordinary in that the House understands the processes that a bill must undergo in their chamber, as do we. And we have talked even today about the independence of the chambers and the independent process that the Prime Minister upholds.
I understand it’s from the other house, but I was thinking about this message that we’ve received today. A lot of things happen in this chamber that are unprecedented and extraordinary. I recall missing appendices of a bill that Senator Day recognized and we suspended the sitting so we could wait for those parchments to arrive. A lot of things could happen. In fact, it is quite within reason and order for Senator Lankin to ask a question of Senator Harder about one of those bills.
I’m not questioning the spirit of the message in terms of how important these bills are. We have been in discussions and there are ongoing negotiations about these bills. The Point of Order I’m raising is simply that I think it is precedent-setting for the House to send such a message to us. I wouldn’t want to instruct and say what the language should be or what they should or shouldn’t do, so as not to set a precedent that we accept a message where we are being asked — or, rather, told — that we should do something when we understand that each of our houses has a process.
I hope that we will continue our discussions and the bills will undergo the process that they need and that we will get to them. We still have several weeks left in this session. I know there are a lot of other bills that are before us, so we are feeling that pressure. I just do not think this kind of precedent is something we would accept.
I can hear Senator Cools’ voice rising and saying, “How dare the other house tell this house what we should or should not do.” On that point, Your Honour, I would like for you to consider this very important Point of Order.
Honourable senators will know that when a message is received from the other place, it is the responsibility of the Speaker to read that message. At this stage, it is merely read into the record to be published in the Journals of the Senate. There is nothing on the Order Paper with respect to it for further consideration.
I take the point with respect to the fact that it is highly unusual. However, it is not unprecedented. A similar message was received in this chamber from the other place back in 2008 with respect to another piece of legislation.
That does not detract from the fact, again, that this is very unusual. However, the proper procedure from here forward is that if senators want to comment on this or speak to it, they must commence either a motion or an inquiry with respect to this particular matter, after the proper notice.
