On Friday, July 9, 1982, at 4 p.m., the House of Commons proceeded to Private Members' Business, which was supposed to last an hour. In those days PMB was usually "talked out", i.e., MPs talked whole hour and never got to vote. When that happened, the private member's bill or
motion dropped to the bottom of the PMB list, rarely if ever to be called again before session ended and item died on Order Paper. But not that day! The bill was to amend the Holidays Act by changing "Dominion Day" to "Canada Day". The proposer was Hal Herbert, QC anglophone and
Liberal MP. But no one rose to speak in favour of the bill. The PC Opposition was probably caught by surprise, so no one rose from their side to oppose the bill. So the Deputy Speaker, Lloyd Francis, had no choice but to ask if the House was ready to vote. The ayes carried the
motion to give the bill 2nd reading & send it to cmtee. So far so good. Then a parliamentary secretary asked for unanimous consent to do the bill at all stages in the House immediately. And the opposition PC MPs didn't say no. Not one of them did. All that was needed was 1 NO.
5 PC MPs were needed to ask for a recorded vote on 2nd reading, so maybe they weren't prepared for that. Sometimes MPs leave the chamber & go into the lobby during debates. But only 1 NO was needed to refuse unanimous consent & send the bill to cmtee for further discussion+delay.
But none of the PC MPs in the House said no to the request for unanimous consent. So the Deputy Speaker had no choice but to put the bill thru all stages right then and there. Nary a discouraging word was heard from the Opposition. So the bill was passed & sent to Senate. Now,
rumour has it that there wasn't a quorum of 20 MPs in the House that Friday afternoon and so the whole procedure was illegitimate. That's was the myth created by the rest of PC MPs and senators who opposed the bill. But the fact is that PC MPs in the chamber, led by Walter Baker,
did nothing to oppose the bill. They didn't even ask for a quorum count, which if the myth were true, would have put a halt to the bill's progress. And let me remind you that only a quorum count or a recorded vote can determine whether there is no quorum once a meeting starts
with a quorum present. That is in full compliance with section 48 of Constitution Act, 1867. So the thing the Conservatives couldn't admit was that some of their own betrayed them by not opposing the bill that changed "Dominion Day" to "Canada Day". Even Liberals were surprised.
PS: CA 1867 said the name of the dominion (ie self-governing colony) created by that Act was simply Canada. Hence, Canada Day #HappyCanadaDay
