EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Legislative Counsel Office (Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel) prepares the List of Reports and Returns under the authority of Standing Order 153 of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons:

153. [List of documents to be tabled.] It is the duty of the Clerk of the House to make and cause to be printed and delivered to each Member, at the commencement of every session of Parliament, a list of the reports or other periodical statements which it is the duty of any officer or department of the government, or any bank or other corporate body to make to the House, referring to the Act or resolution, and page of the volume of the laws or Journals wherein the same may be ordered; and placing under the name of each officer or corporation a list of reports or returns required to be made, and the time when the report or periodical statements may be expected.

The List of Reports and Returns brings together in one convenient location the reports and other documents that must be tabled in the House of Commons under federal legislation in force on April 3, 2006. The List does not indicate whether a particular document has been tabled in a timely manner. It simply identifies the document until Parliament has repealed the statutory provision that requires it to be tabled.

Most of the documents are to be filed by a minister. The List of Reports and Returns sets out each minister in alphabetical order based on how the minister is identified in the statutory provision that requires the report to be tabled. For additional information on a particular report, please contact the minister responsible for tabling the report.

For the convenience of Members of Parliament and other users of the List, we have also included documents that are to be tabled by parliamentary committees and various House officials, including the Speaker. The reports of the Registrar General of Canada are listed with the reports of the Minister of Industry because, under subsection 2(3) of the Department of Industry Act, the Minister of Industry is the Registrar General of Canada. All reports to be tabled by ministers and secretaries of State are grouped together under the heading “STATE, Ministers of”. If a statute does not name a specific minister, the document is found under the name of the minister who is responsible for the statute according to the Table of Public Statutes and Responsible Ministers.

Beginning with the First Session of the 38th Parliament, the List of Reports and Returns included a schedule entitled “LIST OF REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS ALREADY TABLED ― ONE-TIME LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENT”. In the List of Reports and Returns for the First Session of the 39th Parliament, the schedule is divided into two parts entitled “ONE-TIME LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENT” and “SPENT LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENT”. The first part of the schedule sets out the reports and other documents that have been tabled under a one-time statutory requirement and that do not need to be tabled again (see section 20 of the Interpretation Act, R.S., c. I-21). The second part lists the reports and other documents that have been tabled over a period of time under a statutory provision but that no longer need to be tabled because the requirement is now spent. For ease of reference, these reports and documents have been listed separately from those for which the tabling requirement is ongoing.

The information relating to each document is presented in four columns, as in the following example:

Canadian International Trade Tribunal¹
— Annual report: activities of the Tribunal²	On any of the first 15 days on which the House is sitting after the report is submitted to the Minister³ (within three months after the end of each fiscal year)⁴	8560 553⁵	Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act⁶R.S., 1985, c. 47 (4th Supp.), s. 42

1	Relevant officer, government department, bank or other corporate body
2	Description of the document to be tabled
3	When document is to be tabled
4	When document is to be prepared
5	Sessional paper number
6	Statutory authority under which the document is to be tabled (contains the reference to the original statutory authority and to the amendments related to that authority)

When a tabling requirement is not in force, the entire entry is shaded and the notation “not in force” appears in the “Authority” column, as in the following example:

— Annual report: administration of
Part I.1 (Reserve Force Pension Plan) of the Act

Annually

Canadian Forces
Superannuation Act
R.S., 1985, c. C-17;
s. 59.7 added by
1999, c. 34, s. 154
(not in force)

The statutory requirement to table a report has, in some cases, been discontinued by the Governor in Council. Section 157 of the Financial Administration Act authorizes the Governor in Council to order that a document be discontinued if the Governor in Council is satisfied that the document contains the same information as or less information than is contained in the Public Accounts. When a document is discontinued in this way, it appears as follows:

— Annual report	To be included in the Minister’s annual report to Parliament as a separate part thereof		Statistics Act R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 4(3)
Discontinued in 1994 — now included in the Industry Performance Report

To date, the Governor in Council has made six orders directing that certain documents be discontinued:

Order Directing that Certain Documents be Discontinued

SI/2005-50, C. Gaz. 2005.II

SI/2003-146, C. Gaz. 2003.II

SI/2000-90, C. Gaz. 2000.II

SI/99-130, C. Gaz. 1999.II

SI/94-34, C. Gaz. 1994.II

SI/93-30, C. Gaz. 1993.II

Any comments or suggestions concerning the List of Reports and Returns should be directed to:

Deputy Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel
House of Commons
180 Wellington Street ― Room 652-B
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Tel.: (613) 995-7985 or 947-6569
Fax: (613) 947-8198

The List of Reports and Returns may be consulted at the following electronic address:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/chambus/house/reports/toc-e.htm