[ Progress of Bills . . . ]

Ten o'clock a.m.

Prayers by Mr. Krueger.

The House proceeded to "Orders of the Day."

Order for Committee of Supply called.

Pursuant to Sessional Order, order called for Section A of Committee of Supply (estimates of the Ministry of Transportation and Highways).

Pursuant to Sessional Order, order called for Section B of Committee of Supply (estimates of the Ministry of Forests).

(In Committee -- Section B)

Mr. Farrell-Collins moved that the amount allocated in the 1997-98 Estimates to the Office of the Minister of Forests, $433,000 be reduced by $1.

Motion defeated on the following division:

YEAS -- 30
Dalton Gingell Reid Campbell Farrell-Collins Plant Sanders de Jong	Coell Anderson Nebbeling Whittred van Dongen Thorpe Penner J.D. Wilson	Reitsma Hansen C. Clark Symons Hawkins Abbott Jarvis	Weisbeck Chong Coleman Nettleton Masi Krueger Barisoff
NAYS -- 36
Evans Zirnhelt McGregor Boone Hammell Streifel Pullinger Farnworth Kwan	Waddell Calendino Stevenson Bowbrick Goodacre Giesbrecht Walsh Kasper Orcherton	Hartley Priddy Petter Miller G. Clark Dosanjh MacPhail Cashore Ramsey	Sihota Randall Sawicki Lali Doyle Gillespie Robertson Smallwood Janssen

Section B continued to sit.

Section B of Committee of Supply reported progress.

Report to be considered at the next sitting.

Committee to sit again at the next sitting.

(In Committee -- Section A)

Section A of Committee of Supply reported progress.

Report to be considered at the next sitting.

Committee to sit again at the next sitting.

And then the House adjourned at 11.55 a.m.

Tuesday, July 8, 1997

Two o'clock p.m.

Order called for "Oral Questions by Members."

The Hon. D. Miller (Minister of Employment and Investment) tabled the following:

BC Systems Corporation Annual Report, 1995-96; and

British Columbia Lottery Corporation Annual Report, 1995/96.

The Hon. J. Cashore (Minister of Aboriginal Affairs) tabled the BC Treaty Commission Annual Report, 1997, with financial statements.

The Speaker delivered his reserved decision as follows:

Honourable Members:

On Thursday, July 3, 1997, the Honourable Member for Powell River-Sunshine Coast rose on a matter of privilege concerning the conduct of the Minister of Labour, alleging certain improprieties surrounding Bill (No. 44) intituled the Labour Statutes Amendment Act, 1997, which was introduced into the House and received first reading on June 25, 1997.

In the course of his statement, the Honourable Member has referred the Chair to numerous precedents relating to breach of privilege that are presented in Parliamentary Practice in British Columbia, 3rd edition, and I have carefully considered the cumulative effect of those decisions on the Member's case.

It is my view that none of the precedents mentioned can be relied upon as an authority to assist the Honourable Member in establishing a prima facie breach of privilege for the case in hand. Indeed, what emerges from these precedents is that a premature release of government policy or proposed legislation, to the press or the public prior to introduction into the House, does not constitute a breach of privilege or contempt.

There is, however, a caveat running through these decisions which suggests disclosure of the detail of legislation to outside parties, prior to their introduction in the House, may involve a question of propriety or a question of courtesy.

For example, the Saskatchewan Journals of April 5, 1976 at page 63 record the observations of Mr. Speaker Brockelbank as follows:

"I wish to stress to the Assembly that although it is a courtesy to the Assembly for a Minister to release information in the Assembly before releasing it to the press or the public, it is not a breach of the privileges or Rules of the Assembly if this does not happen."

Dealing now with the other matter raised by the Honourable Member when he referred the Chair to Standing Order 78a, the Member quite correctly observed that this Standing Order enabled the Minister of Labour to refer Bill 44 to a Select Standing Committee immediately after its introduction in this House.

A close examination of Standing Order 78a, however, makes it abundantly clear that the power of referral is permissive only and, in the Chair's view, the discretion for such a referral was intended to remain the prerogative of the Minister in charge of the Bill: the discretion is unrelated to the authority of the Chair.

In conclusion, then, and based on the authorities noted, the Chair is unable to find that the Honourable Member has, prima facie, established a case of breach of privilege.

Dale Lovick, Speaker

The House proceeded to "Orders of the Day."

The Hon. J. MacPhail advised that the House will sit Wednesday, pursuant to Standing Order 2 (2).

Order for Committee of Supply called.

Pursuant to Sessional Order, order called for Section A of Committee of Supply (estimates of the Ministry of Transportation and Highways).

Pursuant to Sessional Order, order called for Section B of Committee of Supply (estimates of the Ministry of Forests).

(In Committee -- Section B)