OTTAWA -- The federal government is backing down on its plan to change the rules of the House to create a formal prime minister's question period.

Government House Leader Bardish Chagger will give notice Thursday night of her proposed changes to the House standing orders, the term for the rules that govern the chamber. They don't include the proposal made months ago that the prime minister have one question period a week where the head of government alone takes questions from MPs.

Chagger's spokesman says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, however, will continue to spend one question period a week responding to all the questions.

"The Prime Minister's Question Period is here to stay under this government," Mark Kennedy wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca. "And just as it became the convention – not something in the standing orders – in the United Kingdom, we are confident it will become the convention here."

Speaking to a House committee earlier Thursday, Chagger said the prime minister's question period is in addition to the other days that Trudeau attends to take queries. He has done six solo question periods so far, she said.

Chagger is proposing forcing governments to table the reasons for proroguing no more than 20 sitting days after Parliament returns. Prorogation is standard around the mid-way point of a government's mandate, although former prime minister Stephen Harper was criticized for using long periods of prorogation to cool tempers amid scandals.

Chagger is also proposing:

  • letting parliamentary secretaries sit on committees, but withholding voting privileges from them
  • giving the Speaker the power to split omnibus bills, other than budget bills, so MPs can debate and vote on separate elements
  • rejigging the schedule for tabling financial planning documents, known as the supply cycle, so it lines up better with when the federal budget is tabled

The changes to be proposed will be debated next week, she said on Thursday.