Speaker’s Rulings — Supplementary Questions—Principles

I promised yesterday to tell the House of the principles followed by the Chair in allowing supplementary questions. The calling of members to ask supplementary questions is a matter that the Standing Orders leave entirely to the discretion of the Speaker—see Standing Order 378(1). Members, to receive the call, must stand and call to the Speaker—see Speaker’s Ruling 24/5. But rising and calling to the Speaker is not a race. The Speaker calls whomever the Speaker determines that it is appropriate to call, regardless of who rises first. In allocating supplementary questions, the Speaker, after giving the first supplementary question to the member who asked the primary question, generally prefers members in order of size of party. When all parties that wish to do so have asked a question, parties can come for a second round of questions, and so on, again generally in order of size of party. This was the practice that I followed yesterday, and the one that I will follow in the future.