November 16, 1945 (20th Parliament, 1st Session)

Mr. J. A. BRADETTE (Cochrane) moved:

That the second report of the standing committee on external affairs, presented on Monday, November 12, be now concurred in.
Hon. L. S. ST. LAURENT (Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs); I am compelled to move in amendment that this

report be referred back to the committee and that it have power to reconsider the recommendation expressed in the last paragraph of the report. The recommendation is in. the following form:
Your committee further recommends that it be empowered to consider matters connected with external affairs and report from time to time any suggestion or recommendation deemed advisable to the House of Commons.
This is one of the twelve standing committees which were set up on October 9 and with respect to which the powers were determined by resolution of this house on October 10 in the following form:
On motion of Mr. Mackenzie it was resolved:
That the standing committees of this house shall severally be empowered to examine and inquire into all such matters and things as may be referred to them by the house and to report from time to time their observations and opinions thereon, with power to send for persons, papers and records.
The scope of the jurisdiction of the standing committees has been, in the practice of the house, always determined by specific reference. This recommendation would ask for general power to the committee to consider any matters connected with external affairs without specific reference from this house. If that were proper for this standing committee, it would be equally proper for all the standing committees of this house to determine themselves the scope and extent of the matters which they would consider and upon which they would make reports. That would lead to very serious disturbance of the order of business now provided by the standing orders.
These reports come in on motions. They are debatable under the rules of the house, and any report coming from a committee would give occasion for a debate in priority to any of the other business provided for by the standing rules of the house. That may be a good thing to do, but we have just recently set up a special committee to assist Mr. Speaker in revising the rules of the house, and I do not think there should be any anticipation, by concurrence in a motion of this kind, of such a substantial change in what has been the practice and rules of procedure in the house.
Then there is the further consideration that I am only acting in the capacity of Secretary of State for External Affairs, and I should not like any substantial change of this kind to be accepted by the house in the absence of the Secretary of State for External Affairs.
This proposal of the committee would be very wide in its effect. It would allow the committee to investigate any aspect of any-

External Affairs
thing that could be comprised within the term "external affairs." I think that until there has been some general change, if there is to be a change, in the standing orders, the former practice should be adhered to. and there should be specific reference by the house to the standing committees of the matters which the [DOT]standing committees would inquire into.
My amendment is in the form provided for in paragraph 661 of the second edition of Beauchesne:
When the motion is proposed the report may be referred back to the committee for further consideration or with instruction to amend the same in any respect.
The terms I have suggested in my amendment are:
That the report be referred back to the said committee and that it have power to reconsider the recommendation expressed in the last paragraph of the report.