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practice of a parliament. It aims at assuring parliament members of the chairman's fairness and credibility.
The standing orders of the Canadian Parliament even explicitly provide that the Chairman is not entitled to two votes unless there is a tie. I consider the standing orders of the Canadian Parliament the clearest on this point. It is also stipulated that when the casting vote is given in a tie, it must be based on the original status of the matter discussed. It is upon this that the spirit and traditions of a parliament are built.
Members of the parliaments of these places are elected members too, who are representing their own constituencies and are accountable to the people, but they can do this just the same. Why then should our council chairman claim that he has to express views because of his accountability towards the constituency? I am just being pragmatic. The chairman is there to chair a meeting rather than argue with the members. He is not there to give a couple of additional remarks on the subjects he is in favour of, or when there are those who are not on his side, pretend that he does not see them gesturing and putting their hands up or place them at a lower priority to speak, or allow those favoured by him to have more chances to follow up or chip in. This would obstruct the order of meeting.
I have brought up this point in the hope that it will be considered at the meetings of the Working Group on Review of the Standing Orders of the Urban Council. The chairman of a council plays a very important role. The order of meeting is the responsibility of the chairman as well as that of the members. I hope that through today's motion debate, everyone will scrutinize themselves. I hope everyone will respect each other and be devoted to the Council, so that it will become a council deserving the respect and esteem of the public.
I am also happy to find new faces around. I hope we will monitor and advise each other. When there are different views, they could be debated, but in an orderly manner. We should not interpose and chip in as if we were in a market. We hope that after the UC session resumes in September, it will step into a new era. It is hoped that it will change the impression of the 60% respondents who rated its image as so-so, and convince them that both the Council's image and order of meeting are good.
I hope that Members will discuss these few aspects today or at the future meetings of the Working Group on Review of the Standing Orders. I hope the Chairman is not offended. I have no intention of making a personal attack against him. I am doing this only for the development of the Council, so that its standard will be maintained and the Council will not be teased at. With these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. LEE KWOK-Keung (in Cantonese): I will speak on the performance of USD officials. In our survey, it was discovered that 37.4% of the respondents
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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
257
practice of a parliament. It aims at assuring parliament members of the chairman's fairness and credibility.
The standing orders of the Canadian Parliament even explicitly provide that the Chairman is not entitled to two votes unless there is a tie. I consider the standing orders of the Canadian Parliament the clearest on this point. It is also stipulated that when the casting vote is given in a tie, it must be based on the original status of the matter discussed. It is upon this that the spirit and traditions of a parliament are built.
Members of the parliaments of these places are clected members too, who are representing their own constituencies and are accountable to the people, but they can do this just the same. Why then should our council chairman claim that he has to express views because of his accountability towards the constituency? I am just being pragmatic. The chairman is there to chair a meeting rather than argue with the members. He is not there to give a couple of additional remarks on the subjects he is in favour of, or when there are those who are not on his side, pretend that he does not see them gesturing and putting their hands up or place them at a lower priority to speak, or allow those favoured by him to have more chances to follow up or chip in. This would obstruct the order of meeting.
I have brought up this point in the hope that it will be considered at the meetings of the Working Group on Review of the Standing Orders of the Urban Council. The chairman of a council plays a very important role. The order of meeting is the responsibility of the chairman as well as that of the members. I hope that through today's motion debate, everyone will scrutinize themselves. I hope everyone will respect each other and be devoted to the Council, so that it will become a council deserving the respect and esteem of the public.
I am also happy to find new faces around. I hope we will monitor and advise each other. When there are different views, they could be debated, but in an orderly manner. We should not interpose and chip in as if we were in a market. We hope that after the UC session resumes in September, it will step into a new era. It is hoped that it will change the impression of the 60% respondents who rated its image as so-so, and convince them that both the Council's image and order of meeting are good.
I hope that Members will discuss these few aspects today or at the future meetings of the Working Group on Review of the Standing Orders. I hope the Chairman is not offended. I have no intention of making personal attack against him. I am doing this only for the development of the Council, so that its standard will be maintained and the Council will not be teased at. With these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. LEE KWOK-Keung (in Cantonese):-I will speak on the performance of USD officials. In our survey, it was discovered that 37.4% of the respondents
Page 258 of 654
Page 258 of 654
Page 258 of 654
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