Mr. SPEAKER:

I have the honour to

state that the House having attended on His Excellency the Governor General in the Senate chamber, I informed His Excellency that the choice of Speaker had fallen upon me, and, in your names and on your behalf, I made the usual claim for your privileges, whioh His Excellency was pleased to confirm to you.

Hon. ERNEST LAPOINTE (Leader of the House):

The House is now properly organized, and in view of the peculiar circumstances under which this parliament is meeting, which have necessitated this early summoning of hon. members, the government thinks it its duty, as the first act of government in this parliament, to submit the following motion, whioh I make, seconded by the Hon. Mr. Macdonald (Minister of National Defence):

That in the opinion of this House, in view of the recent general election, the government was justified in retaining office and in summoning ,parliament, and the government is entitled to retain office, unless defeated by a vote of this House equivalent to a vote of want of confidence.

I quite realize that this motion will involve some discussion and I am prepared ito discuss it to-day; but, on the other hand, I should not like anybody to be taken by surprise, and if it is the wish of the House that the

consideration of this motion should be postponed till Monday I am quite content to agree, provided the motion is disposed of before we take up any other business.

Right Hon. ARTHUR MEIGHEN (Leader of the Opposition):

Mr. Speaker, the manner

in which a group of men who claim to constitute the government has opened this House is quite on a parity with the conduct of the same group since its defeat in the last election. May T say, first of all, that I do not rise to ask any grace from that group of men? I am not proposing to ask for any adjournment of anything. I take the ground, though, first of all, that this motion without notice is out of order.

Mr. FORKE:

I might suggest that we do

not know what it is about.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

It is not about very

much. It is in the form of the usual motion of which notice must be given and this alleged government has no right, whatever autocratic sentiments its members may recently have imbibed, to proceed in this House without notice. To suggest that they may do so is in itself a discourtesy to parliament, is in itself a contempt of parliament. When I say that we on this side received no notice of the government's intention, I make a statement that I am sure will occasion no surprise. I am as sure that no hon. member who is not within the fold of the government had any notice of it. Not only had we on this side no notice, but at the opening of the House this afternoon I was provided with an order of proceedings for the day upon which this notice does not appear-in which no reference whatever is made to any intention of the government to make such a motion. We are, in effect, notified that no such procedure as this will be attempted by the so-called administration, and after we have been so notified, he who now assumes to lead or does lead the assumed ministry, comes before this House and ventures to suggest to us that a motion of this kind is in order. It is wholly unprecedented. Certainly the circumstances are unprecedented. The reason for the unprecedented circumstances we all see right opposite us now. But the fact that such circumstances are created by the administration gives the administration no right to do an unprecedented act in this House. I therefore, first of all, rising to a point of order, take the ground that the government has no right to proceed.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

I will not make any

comment on the tone of asserted superiority

Government's Right to Office

exhibited by my right hon. friend. As to the question of order, parliament has 4 p.m. been summoned for the very purpose expressed in this motion-to ascertain, owing to the numerical position of various parties and groups as a result of the election, who should be the executive and carry on the administration. We are taking the very first step and the earliest opportunity possible to submit this question to the judges, to parliament. My right hon. friend is one in parliament, as I am one. We are all equal here, and the question whom parliament wants as the executive, the board of control, the cabinet in Canada at the present time, must be decided by members of parliament, not by the cabinet. This being the issue to decide which parliament has been summoned, after we have been charged with being usurpers who have no authority-

Hear, hear.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

Then why does my right hon. friend object to having that issue decided?

Mr. WILSON (Wentworth):

The people decided it.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

Yes, the people as represented in parliament, not the people of one province or another. The people of all the provinces of the Dominion, as represented here by the members whom - they have elected, are the judges. Now, it was a physical impossibility to give any notice prior to the introduction of the motion. Parliament met only yesterday.

Some hon. MEMBER'S: Oh, Oh.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

Who says "Oh"! Could any notice have been legally given before parliament met? Does anybody contend that this was possible? Obviously it was impossible to give such notice; and now, under our constitutional rules and in accordance with precedent, parliament has the right to assert its power to deal with any public questions of importance before taking up the consideration of the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. And in order to preserve that privilege it is customary to introduce, immediately after the meeting of parliament, a pro forma bill dealing with the oaths of office. The purpose of this is merely to maintain this right of the House of Commons to take up any matter of importance before proceeding to discuss the Address in reply to the Speech .from the Throne. The grave matter of public importance at the present time is to decide who, as a result of the electoral situation which was created on October 29

last, Shall be the executive of parliament and shall carry on the administration of the government. This is the very first matter which we must decide, and it is the matter that forms the subject of this motion.

Mr. ROBERT FORKE (Brandon):

Government's Right to Office

an administration that purported to act as an administration before the House 'had functioned as such. The only method I know of under our rules is the method I have just suggested: the government moves the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne and, if there is any opposition, the opposing party moves an amendment thereto. That is the manner in which the position of the government is vindicated. The point of order taken by the leader of the opposition (Mr. Meighen), that no notice having been given the motion is not in order, is, it seems to me, perfectly well taken. The matter is a very simple one, for the rules of the House clearly determine that a motion of this character shall be considered by the House only af'er notice has been duly given, so that every hon. member of this tribunal may have an opportunity of considering just what he is called upon to decide. That is why notice is necessary. No notice having been given in the present instance, it is clear that the rules of the House have not been observed; and that being the case the motion is out of order. That is the point which is now under consideration.

Hon. E. M. MACDONALD (Minister of National Defence):

My hon. friend from

West Calgary (Mr. Bennett) has well observed that the only question before the House is a point of order raised by the right hon. the leader of the opposition (Mr. Meighen). It is rather singular that the right hon. gentlemen, just as hon. members were leaving this chamber to attend upon His Excellency, handed to my hon. friend who is leading the House at present i(Mr. Lapointe) a copy of a resolution which he intended to move but which was nothing more nor less than 'the negative of the motion which has been actually proposed. My right hon. friend evidently thought that he was going to be in order without having given notice.

No.

Mr. MACDONALD (Antigonish-Guys-borough):

Then what did he mean by handing to the Minister of Justice that copy of his resolution? Yesterday my right hon. friend observed that there was no government. Well, we want to know as a government whether or not we have the confidence of the House; and by virtue of the privilege which is usually exercised when a bill pro forma is introduced before the consideration of the Speech from the Throne is entered upon we have at the present time the right to submit this motion to the House. Under the circumstances I con-

[Mr. Bennett.1

tend that the motion is in order without notice.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

I rise, Mr. Speaker, not to labour that point of order, for no one has seriously contended that it is not well taken, but merely to make a statement with reference to the words of the erstwhile Minister of National Defence (Mr. Macdonald) referring to a notice I gave the leader of the group opposite (Mr. Lapointe) immediately after three o'clock. I have no doubt that the House will contrast the conduct I observed with the conduct of the government. Between three o'clock and the removal of hon. members to the Senate chamber, I gave the leader in this House of the government party notice of an amendment which I proposed to move. The opening paragraph read as follows:

The following motion will be made by Mr. Meighen at the first available opportunity:

You will observe that I stated "the first available opportunity." How could it have been stated otherwise? Knowing whom we had opposite us, how did we know what they were going to do? To-day they have sought to override the rules of parliament, as for two months or more they have sought to override the vote of the people. I now put on record the amendment, of which they had approximately an hour's notice, and I do so merely in an explanatory way. The House will observe that I am not moving the amendment now; I am simply standing on my point of order.

Moved in amendment by Mr. Meighen;

Seconded by Mr. That all the words after the word "that" be struck out and the following substituted therefor:

In the late general election the candidates of His Excellency's then advisers, at whose instance the appeal to the country was made, were defeated in a large majority of the constituencies,

That nine ministers of the crown, including the Prime Minister, were rejected at the polls and have no seats in parliament,

That the party represented in -the last parliament by His Majesty's opposition secured in the said election by far the largest support in the popular vote, and has substantially the largest number of members of any party in the present House of Commons,

That those who now assume to be His Excellency's advisers have among them no Prime Minister with a seat in either House of Parliament, and under such circumstances are not competent to act as, or to become, the committee of parliament, commonly known as the government, or to address parliament through His Excellency, and their attempted continuance in office is a violation of the principles and practice of British constitutional government.

Had the government followed the order of procedure which they followed four years ago at the opening of the last parliament, and Which they notified me in writing they would follow to-day, I would have moved that amendment to that item of business appear-

Government's Right to Office

ing as number six in this preliminary order paper handed to me by the officers of the House.