Amendments and Subamendments to Motions / Relevance

Beyond scope of motion

Journals p. 416

Debates p. 4306

Background

On an allotted day, Mr. Lambert (Bellechasse) proposed a motion deploring the fact that the Government had not seen fit to apply the monetary policy of the Social Credit party. Mr. Downey (Battle River) moved an amendment blaming the Government for not having adopted fiscal and monetary policies designed to bring about full expansion of the economy with minimum inflation. The Chair expressed doubts as to the acceptability of the proposed amendment and asked Members for their views before ruling.

Issue

Is the amendment relevant to the motion under consideration?

Decision

No. It is out of order.

Reasons given by the Speaker

The proposed amendment does more than qualify or amend the main motion; it seeks to provide a basis for an entirely different debate. Furthermore, when the opposition parties agree on the choice of subject for an allotted day, "the spirit of fair play would require that the day not be taken away by means of an amendment". The Standing Order requiring notice would be pointless if after notice had been given, the motion were amended to make possible the consideration of an entirely new facet of the question.

References

Debates, March 16, 1971, pp. 4302-6.