42nd Parliament, 2nd Session

Legislative

Assembly
of Ontario

Assemblée

législative
de l’Ontario


Votes and Proceedings

Procès-verbaux

No. 15

No 15

2nd Session
42nd Parliament

2e session
42e législature

Wednesday
November 3, 2021

Mercredi

3 novembre 2021

9:00 A.M.
9 H
PRAYERS
PRIÈRES

ORDERS OF THE DAY

ORDRE DU JOUR

Second Reading of Bill 27, An Act to amend various statutes with respect to employment and labour and other matters.

Deuxième lecture du projet de loi 27, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne l’emploi, le travail et d’autres questions.

Debate resumed, during which the Deputy Speaker interrupted the proceedings and announced that there had been six and one-half hours of debate and that the debate would be deemed adjourned.

Le débat a repris. Le Vice-Président a interrompu les travaux et a annoncé qu’il y avait eu six heures et demie de débat et que le débat serait réputé ajourné.

The Deputy Government House Leader (Ms. Khanjin) directed that the debate should continue.

La leader parlementaire adjointe du gouvernement (Mme Khanjin) a indiqué que le débat devrait se poursuivre.

The debate adjourned at 10:13 a.m.

À 10 h 13, le débat était ajourné.

10:15 A.M.
10 H 15

The Speaker delivered the following ruling:-

Le Président a rendu la décision suivante :-

On November 2, 2021, the Member for Timiskaming—Cochrane (Mr. Vanthof) raised a point of order concerning the motion that was passed by the House the preceding day, Monday, November 1.

The Government House Leader (Mr. Calandra) and the Member for Ottawa South (Mr. Fraser) also made submissions related to the point of order that was raised.

The motion in question provided for six of the Assembly’s nine Standing Committees to be authorized to meet at the call of the Chair for the remainder of the Fall sitting period, and any extension thereof. The Member contended that the motion represents a misapplication of Standing Order 3. While the point of order should have been raised when the motion was originally before the House, I will nevertheless deal with it now.

The motion was moved as a routine motion, without notice, during “Motions” in the Afternoon Routine.

The Member noted that he had found only one example in the previous 20 years, outside of the current Parliament, when a similar motion had been moved as a routine motion.

The Member put forward the case that while there had been similar motions in the recent past – each of which was moved during “Motions” without notice as a routine motion, and each of which passed without procedural objection – they were out of step with long-standing procedure and should now be seen as contrary to practice, and presumably not allowed in the future.

The Member presented theoretical concerns about the effect that the motion could have on the operation of the relevant Standing Committees, and specifically the potential for Committees to be called to meet at irregular times, or at times that might conflict with other parliamentary proceedings. Given this potential broad impact, in the opinion of the Member, the motion should only have been moved either with unanimous consent, or as a substantive motion with notice.

The fact that motions of this type have been put forward only relatively rarely as routine motions is not procedurally fatal to the orderliness of Monday’s motion. While the House may have chosen to deal with the previous motions differently, the Speaker cannot know why this would be the case, and I was not aware of a procedural objection before yesterday.

Was the motion a routine motion that was eligible to be moved during “Motions” without notice? The very plain meaning of the definition of “Routine Motion” in Standing Order 3 suggests that it was. The motion relates exclusively to the meeting schedule of the six named Committees, which is one category of procedural motion that is specifically defined as being routine.

The speculative effects of the implementation of the motion are not relevant. Committees are the creatures of the House, and the House is fully empowered to instruct, direct and give authority to its Committees as it sees fit. Nothing in the terms of the motion compelled or even contemplated that the Committees would necessarily meet in the ways the Member suggested. Nevertheless, the Committees control their own agendas – subject to direction from the House, as I have noted – and thus are free to organize their business as they see fit, as determined ultimately by the majority. The motion does not suspend any Standing Orders or otherwise proscribe the normal procedures and rules of the six Committees.

I therefore find that the motion is a routine motion, properly moved, considered and disposed of by the House, and that it does not contain provisions that are abusive of the rules or that represent an inherent disadvantage to any part of the House.

I want to thank the Members for their submissions on this important matter.

QUESTION PERIOD

PÉRIODE DE QUESTIONS

The House recessed at 11:36 a.m.

À 11 h 36, l’Assemblée a suspendu la séance.

3:00 P.M.
15 H

PETITIONS

PÉTITIONS

Optometry (Sessional Paper No. P-2) Ms. Andrew, Mme Gélinas, Miss Taylor and Mr. Vanthof.

Child care program and federal-provincial agreement (Sessional Paper No. P-6) Mme Gélinas.

Personal Support Workers (Sessional Paper No. P-7) Mme Gélinas.

Price of gasoline (Sessional Paper No. P-9) Mme Gélinas.

Retirement home fees (Sessional Paper No. P-12) Mme Gélinas.

Land lease communities and homeowners (Sessional Paper No. P-32) Mr. Bailey and Ms. Khanjin.

Millcroft golf course (Sessional Paper No. P-33) Ms. Triantafilopoulos.

Multiple sclerosis clinic in Sudbury (Sessional Paper No. P-34) Mme Gélinas.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

ORDRE DU JOUR

Second Reading of Bill 37, An Act to enact the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 and amend or repeal various Acts.

Deuxième lecture du projet de loi 37, Loi visant à édicter la Loi de 2021 sur le redressement des soins de longue durée et à modifier ou à abroger diverses lois.

Debate arose and after some time, the debate adjourned.

Il s’élève un débat et après quelque temps, le débat était ajourné.

6:00 P.M.
18 H

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ PUBLIC BUSINESS

AFFAIRES D’INTÉRÊT PUBLIC ÉMANANT DES DÉPUTÉES ET DÉPUTÉS

Ms. Horwath moved,

Mme Horwath propose,

Second Reading of Bill 3, An Act to prohibit harassment based on enforcement or adoption of public health measures related to COVID-19.

Deuxième lecture du projet de loi 3, Loi visant à interdire le harcèlement fondé sur l’application ou l’adoption de mesures de santé publique liées à la COVID-19.

Debate arose and after some time,

Il s’élève un débat et après quelque temps,

The question was then put.

La question a ensuite été mise aux voix.

Vote deferred.

Le vote est différé.

At 6:44 p.m., the following matter was considered in an adjournment debate.

À 18 h 44, la question suivante a été examinée dans un débat d’ajournement.

Member for Sudbury (Mr. West) to the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance – The completion of the four-laning of Highway 69.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

ORDRE DU JOUR

Second Reading of Bill 27, An Act to amend various statutes with respect to employment and labour and other matters.

Deuxième lecture du projet de loi 27, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne l’emploi, le travail et d’autres questions.

Debate resumed and after some time,

Le débat a repris et après quelque temps,

The question was then put.

La question a ensuite été mise aux voix.

Carried.

Adoptée.

Referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy.

Renvoyé au Comité permanent de la politique sociale.

At 9:24 p.m., pursuant to Standing Order 9(e), the Government House Leader indicated that no further business would be called and therefore the House adjourned.

À 21 h 24, conformément à l’article 9 e) du Règlement, le leader parlementaire du gouvernement a indiqué qu’aucune autre affaire ne serait à l’ordre du jour et par conséquent, l’Assemblée a ajourné ses travaux.

le président

Ted Arnott

Speaker

PETITIONS TABLED PURSUANT TO
STANDING ORDER 42(a)

PÉTITIONS DÉPOSÉES CONFORMÉMENT À L’ARTICLE
42 a) DU RÈGLEMENT

Optometry (Sessional Paper No. P-2) (Tabled November 3, 2021) Mr. Barrett and Ms. Triantafilopoulos.

SESSIONAL PAPERS PRESENTED PURSUANT TO STANDING ORDER 43

DOCUMENTS PARLEMENTAIRES DÉPOSÉS CONFORMÉMENT À L’ARTICLE 43 DU RÈGLEMENT

Letter to the Speaker from the Premier regarding the recommendation that the Legislative Assembly extend the expiry date of the powers referred to in subsection 8 (1) of the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 to March 28, 2022, pursuant to subsection 8 (2) of the Act (No. 47) (Tabled November 3, 2021).