The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paproski):

I have the honour to inform the House that a message has been received from the Senate informing this House that the Senate have passed Bill C-2, an Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States of America, without amendment.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paproski):

I have the honour to inform the House that a communication has been received as follows:

Rideau Hall,

Ottawa,

30 December, 1988 Sir,

1 have the honour to inform you that the Honourable Antonio Lamer, Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, in his capacity as Deputy Governor General, will proceed to the Senate Chamber today, the 30th day of December, 1988, at 4.45 p.m., for the purpose of giving Royal Assent to a Bill.

Yours sincerely,

Leopold H. Amyot Secretary to the Governor General

[ Translation]

Mr. Marcel Prud'homme (Saint-Denis):

Mr. Speaker, I wish to raise a point of order.

For many years, I have tried to follow the Standing Orders very closely. There is a very clear rule regarding the quorum. There are exceptions, so I would ask my colleagues not to get too excited about it. There are exceptions! But we must still clearly follow the Standing Orders!

We have been summoned, the bells have rung. We were proceeding as for a real sitting of the House, because you said the customary prayers for a real sitting of the House.

I would like to submit the case to you, so that in future we can deal with this question in the committee that considers the Standing Orders and clarify this matter completely. I have always objected to the House sitting without a quorum.

There is only one exception that I could find in the Standing Orders that can justify our sitting today. We suspended the sitting and the House receives a message from the Governor General or her deputy, one of the nine judges of the Supreme Court, to the effect that there will be a special sitting in the Senate for the purpose of giving Royal Assent. Citation 215 of Beau-chesne says that when we receive a message from the Governor General asking us to go to the Senate for Royal Assent, that means we can sit regardless of the number of Members present. I can go along with that.

But it is not clear; when the bells ring, we are not aware that we have just received a message. Given this lack of clarity in our Standing Orders, I submit to you- I do not want to be difficult today; I know that everyone is eager to go-that confusion arises. We might one day have great difficulty because of this ambiguity in the Standing Orders.

I take the opportunity to point this out today, because what we are going to the other House for is very important. And since it is very important, we should make quite sure that everything has been done legally.

Therefore I submit to you again that when we were called, Mr. Speaker, we should have ... And now, I see that you are receiving notices ... or you should have sat in the Clerk's chair and waited to receive the message from the Governor General. In such a case, the Standing

December 30, 1988

Royal Assent

Orders provide that the Speaker or presiding officer sits in the Clerk's seat. And we wait. Then all of a sudden, there is a noise that goes on for some time; it is a message from Her Excellency the Governor General telling us that whether or not we have a quorum, we must go to the other place. Mr. Speaker, you should then have been sitting in the Clerk's seat and have gone to the Chair where you are now sitting and called the assembly to order. You receive the messenger and we go to do what he came to us for. But I don't know that... In principle, we don't know that officially. We come back and you return to the Chair.

So I submit to you, since the Standing Orders were not followed exactly, in my opinion, although I shall not elaborate further, I will not say that this sitting is out of order. But given the importance of what brings us here today, I would like, at a future meeting,

When we meet again to revise the rule, we will put it once and for all very clearly that what we are about to do can be done. My esteemed colleague and long-time Member of the House was the first one to be present, but there are only eight or nine Members here. I do not see a quorum. I do not see one Member from one of the three Parties, and I will not mention which one.

It is not clear in the minds of long-serving Members of Parliament, because there are contradictions between certain articles, as to what we are about to do.

I do not want to prolong matters. We have a high esteem for you, Mr. Speaker, and the Table Officers. I wish them all a Happy New Year. I would hope that you will take notice that at a future meeting of this House my colleagues and I will raise it as a point of order to be submitted to the appropriate committee.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paproski):

I would like to thank the Hon. Member for Saint-Denis (Mr. Prud'homme) for bringing up this procedural argument. I would like to mention to him that, under Standing Order 29(5), "when the Sergeant-at-Arms announces that the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod is at the door, the Speaker shall take the Chair, whether there be a quorum present or not."

I appreciate what the Hon. Member has raised as far as Beauchesne's Fifth Edition is concerned, on page 73, Section 215. I will not read the citation. It is a very good point that should be brought to the procedural committee. I would hope that at an early occasion the Hon. Member will bring that to the procedural committee. I do want to thank the Hon. Member.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paproski):

Pursuant to Order of the House adopted on Friday, December 23,

1988, a motion is deemed to have been moved and carried rescinding the order of the House adopted on Friday, December 16, 1988, concerning the extended hours of sitting.

Pursuant to order of the House adopted on Friday, December 23, 1988, this House stands adjourned until Monday, March 6, 1989, at 11 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

At 5.04 p.m. the House adjourned, pursuant to special order.

The First Session of the Thirty-Fourth Parliament was prorogued by Royal Proclamation on February 28,

1989.