Precedence and Sequence / Miscellaneous

Impeachment committee

Journals pp. 809-11

Debates pp. 8023-4

Background

When the House met, Mr. Baldwin (Peace River) rose on a point of order to explain the merits of a motion for the establishment of an impeachment committee. Once formed, the committee would examine and inquire into the refusal of the Government to make legally required payments to the Canadian Wheat Board. The possibility of moving such a motion, he argued, is based on an old British right that applies in Canada by virtue of Standing Order 1 which allows reference to British parliamentary customs and tradition in certain circumstances. The Speaker heard comments from Members and then ruled.

Issue

Is Standing Order 1 sufficient to justify the presentation of a motion for the establishment of a parliamentary impeachment committee?

Decision

No. A motion to establish an impeachment committee under Standing Order 1 is not in accordance with modern parliamentary practice.

Reasons given by the Speaker

The most recent precedent for the unusual and unused impeachment proceedings existing in the British Parliament dates from 1805, when a judgment in an impeachment case was rendered by the House of Lords, acting in its judicial capacity. This procedure is not applicable to Canada, because the Senate does not have a judicial role in the strict sense of the term; this function is possessed by the House of Lords only. Furthermore, the impeachment procedure had fallen into disuse in the British House of Parliament prior to the adoption of our Standing Order 1. Consequently, the British usages and customs that apply by virtue of Standing Order 1 do not cover the present case.

No precedents are cited by our own authorities, moreover, to support the proposition that the impeachment procedure has been carried over into our Canadian parliamentary practice.

Sources cited

Standing Order 1.

Abraham, L. and Hawtrey, S., Parliamentary Dictionary, 2nd ed., (London, 1964), p. 107.

Anson, W., The Law and the Custom of the Constitution, vol. 1, 5th ed., (Oxford, 1922), p. 385.

May, 1st ed., p. 39; 17th ed., pp. 37, 39-40

References

Debates, September 21, 1971, pp. 8015-23.