Content of Bills / Discrepancy with Terms of the Royal Recommendation

Discrepancy with terms of the Royal Recommendation

Journals pp. 212-3

Debates pp. 2265-6

Background

When Mr. Sharp (President of the Privy Council) sought leave to introduce Bill C-44, an Act to amend the Senate and House of Commons Act, the Salaries Act and the Parliamentary Secretaries Act, Mr. Knowles (Winnipeg North Centre) raised a point of order objecting to the introduction of the bill that day because the Royal Recommendation on the Notice Paper contained an error as to the present expense allowance paid to Senators.

Issue

Must a Royal Recommendation be exactly correct in all its details before the bill upon which it is based can be introduced into the House?

Decision

The issue raised in the point of order should not stand in the way of the bill's introduction and first reading.

Reasons given by the Speaker

The purpose of first reading is to ensure the undoubted right of any Member to put before the House in the form of a bill his views and opinions and to allow the House an opportunity to study the bill once printed and distributed. This process should not be stopped except on the clearest possible grounds.

Because the error in the Royal Recommendation does not affect the proposed increase to Senators' expense allowance, it ought not to prevent the bill's introduction.

References

Debates, December 16, 1974, pp. 2264-5.