Mr. Chairman, I would like to recommend the committee consider Committee Report 2-12(6), report of the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and Privileges and, if we conclude that, that we move into Bill 4.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I read into the record under reports of standing and special committees, there were a number of issues that were referred by Caucus to the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and Privileges. Actually, there were four specific issues.

One is the rules requiring a Member to stand when speaking in the House, that they might affect a person with a physical disability.

Secondly, procedures regarding the recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Thirdly, the options paper prepared by the Chairs' Liaison Committee on the operation and accountability of standing committees.

Lastly, the recall legislation.

Review Of The Rules Regarding Standing When Speaking In The House

With regard to the first item, Mr. Chairman, on November 24, our committee received a referral from Caucus concerning the rules regarding standing as they might affect a disabled person. Some Members, at that time, felt that our rules should permit Members to remain seated if "disabled or in discomfort." Caucus also shared the concerns stated by these Members. Currently, rule 21 states: "Every Member recognized to speak shall stand in his or her place and address the Speaker." There are other rules that also require Members to stand, for instance, for recorded votes and also at the time of adjournment.

When Caucus first considered this matter, it was agreed that the Speaker should seek unanimous consent to permit a Member with a physical disability to remain seated when speaking during formal session. This was to be an interim measure pending the results of the review by our standing committee.

When we looked at this issue and examined the procedures that are used in other jurisdictions, we found that each jurisdiction handles these situations on a case-by-case basis.

During our review, our committee felt that asking for unanimous consent to waive the rules would draw attention unnecessarily to the fact that the Member is disabled. Committee Members also considered the fact that there may be a Member elected who had a permanent disability, or that a Member may suffer from an injury during the course of his or her term that might also make them unable to stand as required by our current rules. Members may not wish to bring attention to the disability and therefore, it was felt that an alternative method should be developed. Our committee agreed that Members who suffer from permanent or temporary physical disability which would require the waiving of the rules for standing, should request in writing to the Speaker their need to waive the rules which govern standing, and the Speaker, after due consideration, will indicate to the House at the first opportunity that the rules have been waived for that Member for a specified period of time.

Recommendation 1

Our committee recommended that rule 18 be amended to add:

(3) Notwithstanding rule 18(1) does not apply to rule 6(1), rule 21 and rule 61(2) if the Member has been granted approval by the Speaker to waive those rules for a specified period of time.

Mr. Chairman, so that Members could get into debate, I would like to move recommendation number one.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue is a good one, and it's quite timely. As someone pointed out, when someone gets a little older we may not be able to always comply with the standing provisions for Members when they are speaking. But I think the question I have has not really been addressed. There are cases where at some point, we will have a disabled individual in the Legislature who may be wheelchair-bound or bound so they are not able to stand. But there are going to be times, Mr. Chairman, that there will be Members who will not be able to stand for a variety of reasons for shorter periods of time, perhaps, rather than a full session. If it's a situation where a person is wheelchair-bound and they can apply this rule for the entire session or the entire life of that Legislature. But there will be short-term provisions, as well. I do know Members who have problems with arthritis, problems with things of that nature. Maybe a minor injury that you may have sustained playing hockey the night before when we do have our games with the press...Volleyball and things like that, that may require an individual to seek that waiver of this rule for a short period of time on very short notice. There were no provisions for that and I had wondered if this could have been worked out in some way that for shorter periods of time and special needs, kind of at a moment's notice, as well, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. With regard to the second issue that was referred to our committee, recognizing visitors in the gallery. I believe, Mr. Chairman, that Members had an opportunity to read the report. I also reported it under item 10, so I won't bother going into the rationale of the recommendation that the committee will be making. I will go right into it by posing a motion so that we can get into a healthy debate.

Mr. Chairman, with regard to recognizing visitors in the gallery, our standing committee, under recommendation 2, moves that more liberal guidelines on the recognition of visitors be developed for application by the Speaker.

Mr. Chairman, on the same issue, our standing committee, under recommendation 3, recommends, and I move, that rule 27(1) and (2) be amended by adding the new item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery to the orders of the day and further, that all other items following the new item 5 be renumbered sequentially.

Mr. Chairman, again it's with regard to recognizing visitors into the gallery. Our standing committee, on our fourth recommendation, recommends, and I move, that the rules be amended by adding the following new rule: recognition of visitors in the gallery, 37(1) under the item "recognition of visitors in the gallery" and a Member may make a statement of

introduction of a visitor in the gallery. Rule 37(2), introductions made under Rule 37(1) shall not exceed 30 seconds.

And further, that the rules be renumbered to reflect the addition of the new rule 37.

And furthermore, that these rule changes come into effect on the first sitting day after their adoption and remain in effect on a provisional basis for the remainder of the 12th Assembly.