►Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is expected to spend the evening fielding questions from MPs on his department's main estimates. READ MORE
►The government wants to extend the House of Commons' sitting hours until midnight (Monday to Thursday) until MPs leave Ottawa for their summer break.
Citing the need to pass several bills, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan has put forward this motion:
That, notwithstanding any Standing or Special Order or usual practice of the House, commencing upon the adoption of this Order and concluding on Friday, June 21, 2013,
(a) the ordinary hour of daily adjournment shall be 12 midnight, except on Fridays;
(b) when a recorded division is demanded, in relation to a proceeding which has been interrupted pursuant to the provisions of an order made under Standing Order 78(3) or pursuant to Standing Orders 61(2) or 66(2),
(i) before 2 p.m. on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, it shall stand deferred until the conclusion of oral questions at that day’s sitting, or
(ii) after 2 p.m. on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, or at any time on a Friday, it shall stand deferred until the conclusion of oral questions at the next sitting day that is not a Friday;
(c) when a recorded division, which would have ordinarily been deemed deferred to immediately before the time provided for Private Members’ Business on a Wednesday, is demanded, the said division is deemed to have been deferred until the conclusion of oral questions on the same Wednesday;
(d) when a recorded division is to be held, except recorded divisions deferred to the conclusion of oral questions or to the ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the bells to call in the Members shall be sounded for not more than thirty minutes; and
(e) when a motion for the concurrence in a report from a standing, standing joint or special committee is moved, the debate shall be deemed to have been adjourned upon the conclusion of the period for questions and comments following the speech of the mover of the motion, provided that the debate shall be resumed in the manner ordinarily prescribed by Standing Order 66(2).
►Bill C-48, which amends several tax laws, returns to the Commons chamber for report-stage debate.
►Debate begins on a bill from Conservative MP Mark Warawa (C-489) to protect minor victims from sex offenders serving house arrests in the same neighbourhood. The private member's legislation replaces Warawa's motion on sex-selective abortion that was deemed non-votable by a parliamentary subcommittee.
►MPs vote on the NDP's motion on the auditor general's spring report, which found a $3.1-billion gap in funding allocated and what was actually spent on public security and anti-terrorism programs between 2011 and 2009:
That, in light of $3.1 billion of missing funds outlined in Chapter Eight of the 2013 Spring Report of the Auditor General of Canada, an order of the House do issue for the following documents from 2001 to the present, allowing for redaction based on national security:
(a) all Public Security and Anti-Terrorism annual reports submitted to the Treasury Board Secretariat;
(b) all Treasury Board submissions made as part of the Initiative;
(c) all departmental evaluations of the Initiative;
(d) the Treasury Board corporate database established to monitor funding; that these records be provided to the House in both official languages by June 17, 2013; that the Speaker make arrangements for these records to be made available online; and that the Auditor-General be given all necessary resources to perform an in-depth forensic audit until the missing $3.1 billion is found and accounted for.
The vote is on this amendment by NDP MP Hélène Laverdière, which adds:
“and that in order to avoid losing funds in the future, the House request that the government take all actions necessary to transition to program activity based appropriations according to the timeline provided to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates in response to their seventh report, tabled on June 20, 2012.”
►A third-reading vote on Bill S-9 is also scheduled.
-Andrew Thomson
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