The House sometimes alters its normal schedule of sittings to accommodate special events or ceremonies. These “special” or “unusual” sittings have included: sitting for the sole purpose of attendance at a Royal Assent ceremony; sitting for the purpose of electing a Speaker; conducting a secret sitting; and sitting to hear addresses by distinguished visitors.
Royal Assent is the stage of the legislative process at which a bill that is identical to the version passed by the two Houses is approved by a representative of the Crown. Royal Assent may be signified in one of two ways: either by written declaration, or by a traditional ceremony in the Senate Chamber.[124]
The Royal Assent Act provides that a traditional ceremony must be held at least twice a year and there is a requirement that the first appropriation bill in a session be given Royal Assent in the traditional form.[125] The ceremonies bring together the three constituent parts of Parliament: the Crown, the Senate and the House of Commons. It also happens that Royal Assent ceremonies take place when the House stands adjourned. When these occur, the House must be recalled so that it may proceed to the Senate for Royal Assent.
In the late 1980s, the House followed the practice of adopting special orders permitting the Speaker, during periods of adjournment, to recall the House for the sole purpose of attending Royal Assent.[126] The Standing Order authorizing the Speaker to recall the House, if it is deemed to be in the public interest, has also been invoked to recall the House for this reason.[127] In 1994, the House codified in the Standing Orders the practice of recalling the House at the request of the government for the sole purpose of attending Royal Assent.[128]
A sitting for the sole purpose of attending a Royal Assent ceremony is treated as a recall of the House with proper notice given so that the Speaker, or his or her deputy, may make the necessary preparations to reopen the House. The Speaker notifies the Clerk of the House of Commons and asks that the necessary steps be taken to recall the House. The Clerk carries out this responsibility by informing the offices of the Whips, House Leaders, Chair Occupants and independent Members of the date and time of the special sitting.
The House does not need a quorum for the Speaker to take the Chair when the Usher of the Black Rod appears in the Chamber to request the attendance of Members in the Senate.[129] In responding to a summons of the Crown, the House is simply being asked to witness an event, rather than to make a decision. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Speaker returns to the House and, once in the Chair, reports that the Governor General was pleased to give, in Her Majesty’s name, Royal Assent to certain bills. The Chair then immediately adjourns the House[130] without proceeding to any other business.[131]
A sitting for Royal Assent is not considered a regular sitting of the House or as a full sitting day. In order to reflect this situation, the sitting number assigned to the last full regular sitting completed by the House is again assigned to the sitting for Royal Assent, followed by a letter.[132]
The election of the Speaker of the House of Commons is provided for in the Constitution. It is held at the opening of the first session of a Parliament.[133] An election must also be held if the Speaker resigns or indicates his or her intention to resign during the Parliament, or if a vacancy occurs for any other reason.[134] This constitutional obligation serves as a basis for the Standing Orders governing when and under what circumstances the election is to be held.[135]
The House of Commons is not properly constituted until the Speaker is elected. Therefore, until the Speaker has been elected and takes the Chair, no other business may be addressed and no motion for adjournment, nor any other motion, may be entertained. The process for the election of the Speaker continues until one candidate has received a majority of the votes cast. If necessary, the House may sit beyond the ordinary hour of daily adjournment.[136] When the Speaker has been elected and has taken the Chair, the Sergeant-at-Arms takes the Mace, the symbol of the authority of the House of Commons, from under the Table and places it on the Table, and this signifies that the House is duly constituted. After the usual period of acknowledgments and congratulations, the new Speaker usually informs the Members of the message from the Governor General announcing the time and date for the Speech from the Throne. The new Speaker then adjourns the House until the next sitting day.
Although not explicitly provided for in the Standing Orders, the House has the privilege, the historical right and the authority to conduct its proceedings in private. This has been referred to as a “secret sitting”. The House may conduct an entire sitting or a portion of a sitting where “strangers” (anyone who is not a Member or an official of the House of Commons) are either not admitted or asked to withdraw from the galleries of the House.[137] These meetings are regarded as sittings and are noted as such in the documents of the House. To conduct a secret sitting, the House has either adopted a special order to initiate the proceeding,[138] or has simply not opened the doors of the House to the public following the prayers at the beginning of a sitting.[139]
The House has met in secret on four occasions, all during wartime.[140] As well, in the years shortly after Confederation, the House would, upon the commencement of a sitting but prior to the doors being opened to the public, conduct a portion of its sittings out of public view in order to discuss internal or “domestic” matters.[141]
From time to time, the House of Commons Chamber is the site for a joint address to Parliament by a distinguished visitor (usually a head of state or head of government). Since the early 1940s, numerous distinguished visitors have addressed Members of the Senate and the House of Commons from the floor of the Chamber (see Figure 9.1).
Figure 9.1 Joint Addresses to Parliament Since 1940
December 30, 1941
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister, Great Britain
June 16, 1943
Madame Chiang Kai‑shek
June 1, 1944
John C. Curtin, Prime Minister, Australia
June 30, 1944
Peter Fraser, Prime Minister, New Zealand
November 19, 1945
Clement R. Attlee, Prime Minister, Great Britain
June 11, 1947
Harry S. Truman, President, United States
October 24, 1949
Pandit Jewaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister, India
May 31, 1950
Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister, Pakistan
April 5, 1951
Vincent Auriol, President, French Republic
November 14, 1953
Dwight D. Eisenhower, President, United States
February 6, 1956
Sir Anthony Eden, Prime Minister, United Kingdom
March 5, 1956
Giovanni Gronchi, President, Republic of Italy
June 5, 1956
Achmed Sukarno, President, Republic of Indonesia
March 4, 1957
Guy Mollet, Prime Minister, French Republic
June 2, 1958
Theodor Heuss, President, Federal Republic of Germany
June 13, 1958
Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister, United Kingdom
July 9, 1958
July 21, 1958
Kwame Nkrumah, Prime Minister, Ghana
May 17, 1961
John F. Kennedy, President, United States
May 26, 1964
U Thant, Secretary-General, United Nations
April 14, 1972
Richard M. Nixon, President, United States
March 30, 1973
Luis Echeverria, President, Mexico
June 19, 1973
Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister, India
May 5, 1980
Masayoshi Ohira, Prime Minister, Japan
May 26, 1980
José Lopez Portillo, President, Mexico
March 11, 1981
Ronald W. Reagan, President, United States
September 26, 1983
Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister, United Kingdom
January 17, 1984
Zhao Ziyang, Premier, State Council, People’s Republic of China
May 8, 1984
Miguel de la Madrid, President, Mexico
March 7, 1985
Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary‑General, United Nations
January 13, 1986
Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister, Japan
April 6, 1987
May 25, 1987
François Mitterand, President, French Republic
May 10, 1988
Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
June 16, 1988
Helmut Kohl, Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany
June 22, 1988
February 27, 1989
Chaim Herzog, President, State of Israel
October 11, 1989
His Majesty King Hussein Bin Talal, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
June 18, 1990
Nelson Mandela, Deputy President, African National Congress
April 8, 1991
Carlos Salinas de Gortari, President, Mexico
June 19, 1992
Boris Yeltsin, President, Federation of Russia
February 23, 1995
William J. Clinton, President, United States
June 11, 1996
Ernesto Zedillo, President, Mexico
September 24, 1998
Nelson Mandela, President, Republic of South Africa
April 29, 1999
Vaclav Havel, President, Czech Republic
February 22, 2001
Tony Blair, Prime Minister, United Kingdom
March 9, 2004
Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
October 25, 2004
Vicente Fox Quesada, President, Mexico
May 18, 2006
John Howard, Prime Minister, Australia
September 22, 2006
Hamid Karzaï, President, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
May 26, 2008
Victor Yushchenko, President, Ukraine
Since the 1970s, the normal practice has been for the House to adopt a motion for a joint address, without debate, prior to the delivery of the address.[142] In addition to the order to append the address and related speeches to the Debates,[143] the motion has also included the date and time of the adjournment of the House, as well as other conditions for the order of business on the day of the address. By 1980, the motion also included permission for the transmission of the address and related speeches by the media.[144]
When a joint address takes place, Senators and Members of the House of Commons assemble in the House of Commons Chamber. However, the assembly does not constitute a sitting and the Mace is not on the Table. An established protocol is nonetheless followed.
The seating arrangements in the House are not what they would be for a regular sitting. The Speaker of the House takes the Chair, with the Speaker of the Senate seated in a chair to his or her right. The Table is cleared of the usual paraphernalia and a lectern placed at its head. The Prime Minister and the distinguished visitor are seated along the side of the Table to the Speaker’s right; the Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Commons are seated along the other side of the Table. Seating for the rest of the official party, the Justices of the Supreme Court and the Senators is arranged on the floor of the House in front of the Table.
On arrival at the Centre Block, the distinguished visitor is met in the Rotunda by the Prime Minister and the Speakers of both Houses, the leaders of the parties in both Houses, the Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Commons, the Usher of the Black Rod and the Sergeant-at-Arms. The Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons invite the distinguished guest to sign the visitors books for the Senate and the House of Commons. Then the Prime Minister, the distinguished visitor, the two Speakers and the two Clerks are escorted to the office of the Speaker of the House of Commons by the Usher of the Black Rod and the Sergeant-at-Arms, while the party leaders are escorted to the House of Commons by pages from the Senate and the House of Commons.
At the appointed hour, the official party enters the House of Commons Chamber. The Speaker of the House of Commons presents the Prime Minister and invites him or her to address the assembly. The Prime Minister takes the floor and presents the distinguished visitor. Afterwards, the distinguished visitor is thanked by the Speaker of the Senate, followed by the Speaker of the House of Commons, who then concludes the assembly. The official party then exits the Chamber: the Usher of the Black Rod first, followed by the distinguished visitor and the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Senate, the Clerk of the Senate, the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Clerk of the House of Commons, proceeding to the office of the Speaker of the House of Commons.
[124] For further information on Royal Assent, see Chapter 16, “The Legislative Process”.
[125] S.C. 2002, c. 15, ss. 3(1) and (2).
[126] See, for example, Journals, December 23, 1988, p. 80; June 27, 1989, p. 463; December 20, 1989, p. 1060; December 19, 1990, pp. 2513‑5; June 16, 1993, pp. 3321‑2. For further information on recalls of the House, see Chapter 8, “The Parliamentary Cycle”.
[127] Standing Order 28(3). See also Debates, June 23, 1994, pp. 5781‑2.
[128] Standing Order 28(4). See the Twenty‑Seventh Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, June 8, 1994, Issue No. 16, p. 16:3, presented to the House on June 8, 1994, (Journals, p. 545), and concurred in on June 10, 1994 (Journals, p. 563). On June 23, 1994, the House was recalled for the first time pursuant to Standing Order 28(4) (Journals, p. 668).
[129] Standing Order 29(5). Though a “sitting” for the sole purpose of Royal Assent is not a regular sitting, it has become practice for the Speaker to read Prayers prior to receiving the message from the Governor General for the House’s attendance in the Senate. For further information, see the section in this chapter entitled “Quorum when the Attendance of the House Is Requested in the Senate”.
[130] See, for example, Journals, December 15, 2004, p. 358, Debates, p. 2817.
[131] This also precludes the deposit of any document with the Clerk of the House and the reading of any Senate message except for those regarding Royal Assent. See, for example, Journals, December 15, 2004, pp. 357-8; June 22, 2007, pp. 1583-5.
[132] See, for example, Journals, June 20, 2007, p. 1565 (regular sitting (No. 175) of the House); June 22, 2007, p. 1583 (sitting convened (No. 175A) solely to attend a Royal Assent ceremony). Standing Order 28(5) provides that, during adjournments of the House, upon receipt of a message signifying Royal Assent by written declaration, the Speaker shall inform the House of the receipt of the message by causing it to be published in the Journals. See, for example, Journals, July 20, 2005, pp. 1013-4. Journals with a letter added to the sitting number are also published when Parliament is prorogued or dissolved during a period of adjournment and the Speaker must publish the list of documents, if any, deposited with the Clerk during the adjournment. See, for example, Journals, May 23, 2004, p. 429; September 14, 2007, p. 1587.
[133] Constitution Act, 1867, R.S. 1985, Appendix II, No. 5, s. 44.
[134] Constitution Act, 1867, R.S. 1985, Appendix II, No. 5, s. 45.
[135] Standing Order 2(1) and (2).
[136] Standing Order 2(3).
[137] For further information on “strangers”, see Chapter 6, “The Physical and Administrative Setting”.
[138] Journals, April 15, 1918, p. 151.
[139] Journals, November 28, 1944, p. 931. Prior to the adjournment of the House on the day preceding the secret sitting, Members discussed various ways by which the House could conduct a sitting in secret. It was decided, on the invitation of the Speaker, that, upon commencing the sitting the following day, the prayers would be read but the doors would not be opened. The Speaker then indicated that he would leave it to the House, at that point, to proceed as it deemed fit (Debates, November 27, 1944, pp. 6632‑3).
[140] Journals, April 17, 1918, p. 160; February 24, 1942, p. 93; July 18, 1942, p. 553; November 28, 1944, p. 931.
[141] See, for example, Debates, December 6, 1867, p. 199; December 19, 1867, p. 317.
[142] See, for example, Journals, March 29, 1972, p. 232; February 24, 2004, p. 119; October 8, 2004, p. 75; May 5, 2006, pp. 134-5. Prior to 1970, the motions to append the text of the address and introductory and related speeches were normally adopted at the sitting following the delivery of the address by distinguished visitors. See, for example, Journals, January 21, 1942, p. 655; May 18, 1961, p. 561.
[143] See, for example, Journals, May 5, 2006, pp. 134-5; Debates, May 18, 2006, pp. 1579-84. The joint address by U Thant, Secretary‑General of the United Nations, on May 26, 1964, was not printed in the Debates. There have been occasions when speeches by distinguished visitors were not given in Parliament, but rather on Parliament Hill, before Members of the Senate, the House of Commons and the general public. See, for example, Journals, January 26, 1944, p. 721, Debates, pp. 5435‑9 (speech by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States of America); Journals, July 11, 1944, p. 541, Debates, pp. 4748‑51 (speech by General Charles de Gaulle).
[144] See, for example, Journals, April 29, 1980, p. 94; February 24, 2004, p. 119; October 8, 2004, p. 75; May 5, 2006, pp. 134-5.