December 10, 1867
MARRIAGE LAW
The prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, told the Commons yesterday that his government has no intention of introducing any legislation nor resolution that would allow or encourage the severing of marriage bonds.
COMMONS SITTINGS
For the remainder of the session, each calendar day on which the Commons meets will consist of two distinct sessional days, one that lasts from 3 to 6 o’clock and the other that lasts from half past seven o’clock until the House adjourns.
This is owing to a motion moved by Prime Minister Macdonald which would allow legislation to be passed by the Commons in half the time it would otherwise take.
The effect of the motion is to suspend Rule 43 of the House of Commons which requires that “Every Bill shall receive three several readings, on different days, previously to being passed.” The rule does allow for legislation to be passed through two or more stages in one day in “urgent or extraordinary occasions” such as might be decided by the House through the use of unanimous consent. The motion instead takes the “extraordinary” and makes it routine for the remainder of the session.
Luther Holton (Liberal, Châteauguay) opposed the motion calling it “utterly without precedent in English Parliamentary history” and an “infringement of his freedom” as an independent member of Parliament “by the destruction of old parliamentary practice.”
The House, Holton had said, had met for weeks, adjourning daily at 6 o’clock or earlier, with little or no legislation presented by the Government. Now, he said, there is “an accumulation of business” that the Government wishes to rush through, including, it is perhaps no coincidence, the approval the expenditure of millions through the upcoming supply motion.
He could not, Holton said, but protest against this debasement of Parliament.
Dr. Thomas Parker (Liberal, Centre Wellington) echoed Mr. Holton’s comments, saying the measure brings with it “evil consequences” such as the inability to properly review legislation before its passage. The Government had no right, he said, to bring the House together before its legislative program was ready to be introduced and debated. He called on MPs to vote down the motion and “teach the Government to be ready with their measures when they met.”
Hon. Joseph Howe (Anti-Confederate, Hants) supported the motion saying that unless the Nova Scotia members were able to leave the capital by Wednesday, they would be forced to remain in Ottawa until after Christmas. They would be happy to, he said, if the Government attempted anything nefarious but he did not believe that they would and therefore was recommending support for the motion.
In reply, the prime minister said it was not his desire nor that of the Government to infringe upon the freedom of members of the House. Such motions, he said, were fairly common towards the end of a session, so much so, that even the government that Mr. Holton had once been a part of had established this motion as a precedent in Canada.
The Government was happy to follow the will of the members, Macdonald said. He believed they desired an early close of the session but, if they wished to sit longer, the Government was happy to sit for as long as the members desired.
The motion was adopted on a voice vote.