Members' Handbook
DOCUMENTS OF THE ASSEMBLY
Documents of the Legislative Assembly include all of the legislative papers and records of the House generated during sittings of the Assembly, and may include Orders of the Day, Motions, Tabled Documents, Reports of Standing and Special Committees, Petitions, Hansard, Votes and Proceedings, Tabled Documents, Written Questions and Ministers’ Statements.
The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly is responsible for the safekeeping of all documents of the Assembly.
50. ORDERS OF THE DAY
The official daily agenda for the Assembly is called “Orders of the Day”. It lists all the items of business that may be considered by the Assembly on a particular day. Copies are placed at each Member’s desk before the beginning of each sitting day.
Before the House adjourns each day, the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly reads out the Orders for the next sitting day. Business that has not been completed during a sitting day is carried forward to the next day’s agenda in accordance with the Rules and practices of the House.
51. MOTIONS
A motion is a formal proposal made by a Member in accordance with certain well-established rules. It is a proposal that the Assembly do something, order something to be done or express an opinion with regard to a matter. All formal motions require 2 sitting days’ notice and must be seconded and in writing.
Once the Member has read the motion and the Speaker has ruled it in order, it may be debated, amended, superseded, adopted, defeated or withdrawn as the Assembly may decide.
When a motion is adopted it becomes either a resolution or an order of the Assembly. It becomes an order when the Assembly requires one of its Committees, its Members or any other person to do something. It becomes a resolution when it declares the opinion of the Assembly or affirms a fact or principle.
For further information on motions, amendments and notices of motion, Members should refer to the Rules of the Legislative Assembly, Rules 49 to 65.
The Speaker has the unquestioned authority to rule any motion out of order, or to modify it with respect to form, so it is not objectionable or contrary to the Rules and practices of the Legislative Assembly.
52. TABLED DOCUMENTS
The act of a Minister or Member providing or laying a document before the Assembly is called Tabling. A document may be required to be tabled in the House by an act or order of the Assembly or may not be widely available in the public domain but be of public interest. All tabled documents are recorded by the Clerk as received and are available to the general public.
Members should refer to Rule 48 of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly.
53. REPORTS OF STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES
Committee reports are the official written accounts of proceedings of Standing and Special Committees. A report from a Standing or Special Committee may be adopted by the Assembly, referred to Committee of the Whole or referred back to the Committee that presented it.
All Committee documents belong to the Assembly after a Committee has reported it and are disposed of according to the instructions of the Speaker, acting on order of the Assembly.
Reports made in the Assembly are available to the public, and copies may be obtained upon request to the Legislative Assembly or on the Legislative Assembly website.
Members should refer to Rule 100 of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly.
54. PETITIONS
A petition is a request to the Assembly to address certain concerns, if it is within its jurisdiction to do so. A petition should not be a list of grievances.
Any Member may present a petition to the Assembly either personally, or by filing it with the Clerk. The Clerk forwards all petitions to the Speaker or the Minister responsible and the Speaker or Minister must provide a response within 60 days. All responses are tabled in the Assembly.
The Member presenting the petition must ensure that it is not objectionable in form and content and must sign the petition statement. It is not necessary that the Member support the petition, but the Member should agree that it is a proper matter to be brought before the Assembly.
Members should refer to Rule 47 of Rules of the Legislative Assembly for more detailed information on petitions.
55. HANSARD
Hansard is the daily near verbatim transcript of the Legislative Assembly. The collection of Hansard in the Legislative Library dates back to 1951, the first time a Session of the Northwest Territories Council was held in the Northwest Territories.
When Members of the Legislative Assembly make a speech, ask a question, or participate in any way in the daily proceedings in the Chamber, a built-in microphone picks up the comments. The Member’s words are recorded and a transcriber begins the process of producing the verbatim written transcript called Hansard.
Hansard services are set out in the Rules of the Legislative Assembly, Rule 110. The Rules provide that an unedited transcript shall be produced daily and made available to each Member. Members have until 10:00 a.m. on the sitting day following receipt of the unedited transcript to make corrections as to grammar, obvious errors in transcription and other minor errors, as set out in Rule 110(4)(a). Corrections may not affect the substance of the transcript, which shall remain an accurate and, as far as possible, exact report of what was said.
Under the authority of the Speaker, the corrected transcript is compiled, edited and distributed and becomes Hansard, the near verbatim transcript of the Legislative Assembly and the Committee of the Whole.
Hansard is available on the Legislative Assembly website at www.assembly.gov.nt.ca. The unedited version is available on the website the morning after each sitting day. Once the edited version of Hansard is complete, it replaces the unedited version.
Members should refer to the Rules of the Legislative Assembly, Rule 110 for further information regarding Hansard.
56. VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS
Votes and Proceedings is the official record of the proceedings of the Assembly and Committee of the Whole, and it is compiled, edited, printed and distributed by the Office of the Clerk, under the authority of the Speaker.
Votes and Proceedings is available on the Legislative Assembly’s web site and in hard copy at the Legislative Library.
57. BILLS
A bill is draft legislation for consideration by the Assembly. Once a bill has been considered and passed and has received assent, it becomes an Act.
There are two types of bills, a Government Public Bill and Private Member’s Public Bill.
The Government Public Bill is introduced by a Minister and reflects the policy direction of the government, and is the most common type of bill. It may propose an entirely new act or amend or repeal an existing act. A Private Member’s Public Bill is a bill that seeks to establish a new act or amend an existing act, but is introduced by a Member who is not on Cabinet.
Any regular Member may introduce a bill to establish an act or to amend any public act as long as the rules regarding money bills, as described below (Section 57.1), are adhered to. Such bills do not necessarily reflect the policy direction of the government.
57.1 MONEY BILL
If a bill involves the expenditure of public funds or the imposition of a charge or tax upon the citizens, it must be recommended to the Assembly by the Commissioner. As only Ministers may obtain this recommendation, a Regular Member cannot introduce a money bill.
As the government is ultimately responsible for the control and management of public funds, only the Executive Council (Ministers) can initiate financial measures.
57.2 HOW A BILL BECOMES LAW
No bill can become law until it has received the approval of the Assembly and the assent of the Commissioner. It is important that the Assembly has opportunities to consider all bills, both in general principle and in detail. For this reason, all bills must pass through a number of stages.
57.3 INTRODUCTION AND FIRST READING
After giving 2 days' notice, a Minister will move “that the bill be introduced and read for the first time”. No debate is permitted at this stage. The motion is voted on and, if passed, the bill is returned to the Orders of the Day for Second Reading. Once a bill has received First Reading, it can be distributed to the public.
57.4 SECOND READING
At this stage the principle of the bill is considered, and the general application and desirability of the bill come under debate. Once the bill has been fully considered and approved in principle, it is referred to a Committee.
If referred to a Standing or Special Committee, the Committee may review the bill publicly and must examine the bill clause by clause and report back to the Assembly for further consideration in Committee of the Whole. A bill may be amended in Committee if the Minister concurs with the amendment. If so, the bill is reprinted as amended before the Committee reports the bill back to the Assembly.
57.5 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE STAGE
The bill is considered in detail and reviewed clause by clause in Committee of the Whole. Each clause must be considered and may be amended. Once the Committee approves the bill, it is reported back to the House and is ready for Third Reading.
57.6 THIRD READING
The purpose of Third Reading is to review the bill in its final form, which incorporates any changes that may have been made at the Committee level. A bill may be amended, referred back to a Committee, or through the use of a specific motion, be considered read a third time on a specific future date.
57.7 ASSENT
Once a bill has successfully passed through all of the stages outlined above, it requires assent to make it an Act. Assent is given by the Commissioner.
57.8 COMING INTO FORCE
After assent, a bill will come into force on the day of assent, or if the bill includes a Commencement Clause, either on a specific day or days to be fixed by order of the Commissioner.