Parliamentary Publications
The following publications of the House of
Commons are described in this chapter:
- Journals: The official
record of what is done in the House, drawn from the scroll kept by Table
Officers during the sittings of the House and signed by the Clerk of the
House.
- Debates: The transcribed,
edited and corrected record of what is said in the House and in a Committee of
the Whole.
- Order Paper and Notice Paper: The Order Paper is the official agenda of the House, produced
for each sitting day, and listing all items that may be brought forward in the
Chamber on that day. The Notice Paper contains notices of items which
Ministers and Members may wish to bring before the House.
- Projected Order of Business: A document, produced each day the House sits, containing an unofficial forecast
of the order of business for the House that day, including such information as
the length of speeches and any time limits on debate.
- Status of House Business: Updated daily when the House is sitting, this document provides cumulative
information on the status of bills and motions.
- Minutes of Proceedings, Evidence, and Reports of Committees: These three documents form the
records produced by parliamentary committees — the “minutes”
being the official record of business; the “evidence” being
the verbatim transcript of proceedings held in public; and the
“reports” containing the observations and recommendations that
committees make to the House.
- Bills: A bill is a proposed
law, submitted to Parliament for its approval.
In 1994, the House began to distribute its
publications electronically and the following year, it began the process of
making its publications accessible worldwide through the Parliamentary
Internet
Parlementaire. [1]
The growing accessibility of official publications by electronic means has meant
a rationalization in production and distribution of the printed
product. [2]
Governing Provisions
The House of Commons has exclusive control
of its publications. [3]
These documents are published under the authority of the House (as represented
by the Speaker or the Clerk). All parliamentary publications are produced in
both official languages. The Constitution and the Official Languages Act
provide for the use and equal status of the official languages in the
“records and journals” of
Parliament. [4]
Many of the Standing Orders of the House of
Commons make explicit reference to the Journals, the Debates, the
Order Paper and the Notice
Paper. [5]
These
publications, along with minutes of committees and bills introduced in the House
of Commons, are produced by order of the House, under the authority of the
Speaker and are considered as “official” publications. Other
unofficial publications (for example, the Projected Order of Business and
the Status of House Business) have come into existence through
administrative decisions or following recommendations of committees. They are
also published under the authority of the Speaker or of the Clerk of the
House.
The Standing Orders confer on the Clerk of
the House responsibility for the preparation of House documents, as well as the
safekeeping of parliamentary documents and
records. [6]
The Journals
The Journals record all that is
done, or deemed done, by the House. They are the minutes of the meetings of the
House [7]
and as such,
the authoritative record of its proceedings, which may be used as evidence in a
court of law. [8]
The
Journals are prepared by House staff under the responsibility of the
Clerk. The basis of the Journals is the scroll — notes and records
kept by the Clerk of the House and other Table Officers in the course of a
sitting. Formerly, the House produced daily Votes and Proceedings which
were not designated as Journals until they had been revised and bound at
the end of the session. Since September 1994, revised weekly Journals
have been produced as well as unrevised daily
Journals. [9]
No explicit authority exists by which the
Journals are published. At the time of Confederation, the then Votes
and Proceedings were published under a sessional
order [10]
which read
as follows:
That the Votes and Proceedings of this
House be printed, being first perused by Mr. Speaker, and that he do appoint the
printing thereof, and that no person but such as he shall appoint, do presume to
print the same. [11]
The record has since been produced without
interruption; by the late 1870s, however, the practice of adopting a sessional
order appeared to have fallen into
disuse. [12]
When the House is sitting, the unrevised
Journals for a given sitting are available on the morning of the
following weekday; revised compilations are published on a weekly basis. The
Journals are also available in electronic format on the Internet. At the
end of a session, a compilation of the revised Journals along with other
information is available in a limited number of bound
copies [13]
and on
CD-ROM.
Format and Contents
Until the Second Session of the Thirtieth
Parliament (1976-77), the Journals were printed in separate English and
French editions; thereafter they have been printed in a bilingual side-by-side
format. The Journals follow the order of proceedings in the House and
succinct entries are made of the business conducted and decisions taken by the
House.
The Standing Orders expressly state that a
record is to be made in the Journals when a vote is cast by the Chair and
reasons are given; [14]
and when documents and papers are tabled, presented or filed, including
petitions and reports from committees and parliamentary
delegations. [15]
In
the event the House adjourns for want of a quorum, the names of Members present
are to be recorded in the
Journals. [16]
Similarly, when a recorded vote has taken place, and Members have been
registered as paired, their names are to be recorded in the
Journals. [17]
When a bill involving expenditure of public funds is before the House, the
accompanying Royal Recommendation is
recorded. [18]
Also,
when the Clerk of Petitions reports to the House following the presentation of a
petition for a private bill, the report is printed in the
Journals [19]
and further Journals entries are made at subsequent points in the
legislative process with regard to private
bills. [20]
The Journals contain no record of
debate in the House, except to note that it took place on a question. Likewise,
no record is made of the proceedings or decisions taken in a Committee of the
Whole, except to note when a Committee of the Whole sits, reports progress and
reports back a bill with or without amendment. When amendments are reported,
they are printed in the Journals.
Corrections and Alterations
The daily Journals are revised and
corrections or changes are incorporated prior to publication of the weekly
Journals. The accuracy of the record has rarely been
questioned. [21]
Errors
or omissions have on occasion been brought to the attention of the
House; [22]
editorial
errors are corrected by those responsible for the
publication. [23]
On
one occasion, the Speaker informed the House that the record of the previous
day’s proceedings had to be reprinted to correct a number of inaccuracies
in voting lists. [24]
The Debates
The House of Commons Debates,
commonly known as the Debates or as
Hansard, [25]
is the report in extenso of the debates which take place in the House and in
a Committee of the Whole, with due regard to necessary grammatical, vocabulary
and editorial changes.
In the pre-Confederation assemblies and for
some years after Confederation, there was no official reporting of debates in
the House of
Commons. [26]
Contemporary newspapers carried accounts of legislative proceedings including
debates, with varying degrees of thoroughness, accuracy and
impartiality.
After Confederation, there were attempts to
establish a reporting service, which did not succeed as not all Members were
convinced of the
need. [27]
In 1875,
reporting of proceedings in the House of Commons began to be carried out on a
contract basis, overseen by a committee of the House and in accordance with
guidelines meant to ensure the accuracy of the
record. [28]
Over time,
the system of contract reporting was found wanting, and the House came to the
view that an improved and comprehensive official parliamentary report was
needed. [29]
In April
1880, the House concurred in a committee report which recommended, in the
interests of “greater permanency” and “a higher state of
efficiency”, that the House engage its own permanent reporting
staff. [30]
Thus,
verbatim reporting of debates became an official function of the House under the
control of a committee of the House. In 1882, with the adoption of a report from
a committee appointed to supervise the Official Report of the Debates, the House
agreed to produce an index to the
Debates. [31]
The Debates are published under the
authority of the Speaker of the House. They are compiled using the audio
recording of the proceedings as well as information provided by Hansard staff
stationed on the floor of the House. They are produced in both official
languages and are available the next day.
Format and Contents
The Debates are published under
separate cover in each official language, with uniformity of pagination between
the two editions. [32]
The language used by the Member speaking is
indicated. [33]
Like
the Journals, the Debates follow the actual order of proceedings
in the House, based on the order of business for the sitting; unlike the
Journals, the Debates contain the full deliberations of the
House — speeches and statements of Members as well as other comments and
interventions made in the Chamber. It is not considered usual or regular to
include in the Debates material not delivered in the Chamber; however,
some exceptions exist. For example, the Debates contain:
- division lists, when a recorded
division takes place (paired Members are
included); [34]
- written answers to questions on the
Order Paper; [35]
- the text of the Speech from the Throne at the beginning of each session;
- other material specifically ordered
by the House. [36]
For information purposes, the House has
occasionally agreed to print a text as an appendix to the
Debates. [37]
In
certain circumstances, editorial notes may also be
inserted. [38]
Each
Friday, [39]
the Debates contains an appendix comprising the following
lists:
- Chair occupants;
- Members of the Board of Internal Economy;
- Members of the House of Commons
listed alphabetically and by province, including constituency name and political
affiliation;
- Committees and their membership;
- Panel of Chairmen of Legislative Committees;
- the Ministry, with ministerial titles and according to precedence;
- Parliamentary Secretaries.
The Debates are also available in
electronic format on the Internet, and at the end of each session, a compilation
of the revised Debates is produced in a limited number of bound copies
and also in CD-ROM format.
Corrections and Alterations
The unedited transcripts of Hansard,
at one time produced on blue paper, continue to be known as the
“blues”. The Debates Reporting Service sends to a Member who speaks
in the House the transcript of his or her
intervention. [40]
Blues are also sent to the Press Gallery. Question Period blues are sent to the
offices of party leaders, party research offices and the office of the Speaker.
The blues may also be made available on request to other Members, to the Clerk
and to senior House officials. At times, the Chair has referred to the blues in
deciding points of order or grievances raised by
Members. [41]
However,
the blues are a preliminary copy and are not to be quoted from during
debate. [42]
A Member verifies his or her own
intervention and may suggest corrections to errors and minor alterations to the
transcription; a Member may not make material changes in the meaning of what was
said in the House. It is a long-standing practice of the House that editors of
the Debates may exercise judgement as to whether or not changes suggested
by Members constitute the correction of an error or a minor
alteration. [43]
The
editors may likewise alter a sentence to render it more readable but may not go
so far as to change its
meaning. [44]
Editors
must ensure that the Debates are a faithful reflection of what was said;
any changes made, whether by Members or editors, are for the sole purpose of
improving the readability of the text, given the difference between the spoken
and written word.
In order for corrections and alterations to
be considered, the blues must be returned within stipulated deadlines. Returned
blues must be clearly initialed by the Member or a designated agent. If a
Member’s blues are not returned, it is assumed there are no modifications
to be made.
Substantial errors, as opposed to editorial
changes, must be brought to the attention of the House by means of a point of
order, as soon as possible after the sitting, if a Member wishes to have the
verbatim record changed. Such mishaps may be attributed to a misstatement on the
part of the Member, or to transcription
error. [45]
A Member
may correct the record of his or her own statement, but may not correct that of
another Member. [46]
When a question arises in the House as to the accuracy of the record, it is the
responsibility of the Speaker to look into the
matter. [47]
On
occasion the Speaker has seen fit to order the printing of a corrigendum
to the Debates. [48]
Since the advent of broadcasting of House
proceedings, occasional points of order have been raised on the basis of
discrepancy in the content of the Debates and the broadcast
tape. [49]
While such
matters have been resolved as they arose, the Speaker, in 1978,
noted:
An examination of the record through
these electronic recording devices is being resorted to by more and more
Canadians all the time. Therefore, additional strain is being put on the
reporting staff who have enjoyed this editorial licence in the past. They now
find themselves under the constraint of matching their records exactly with the
language used on the radio and
television. [50]
In 1986, the Speaker repeated these remarks
and suggested that the issue of the official status of the electronic Hansard
ought to be
clarified. [51]
Until
this occurs, each discrepancy must be examined on its own
merit. [52]
The Order Paper and Notice Paper
The Order Paper and Notice Paper is
a single publication, published daily when the House sits. It consists of two
parts: the Order Paper and the Notice Paper. The Order
Paper is the complete and authoritative agenda of all items of business
which may be considered by the House of Commons; unless otherwise provided for
in the Standing Orders, only those items may be considered by the House during a
sitting. As its name suggests, the Notice Paper contains all items for
which notice must be given. Together, these documents contain virtually all
items of business which are before the House or which may be brought before the
House.
The rules of the House require notice to be
given before almost any matter of substance can be raised for consideration by
the House. [53]
The
usual way of giving notice is for the sponsoring Member to send a written and
signed notice to the Clerk for inclusion in the Notice Paper. Notices
given or deemed given on a particular day are printed in that day’s
Notice Paper and transferred to the Order Paper after the
applicable notice period has elapsed. All items, with the exception of
Government Orders, are to be taken up in accordance with the precedence assigned
to them on the Order
Paper. [54]
Thus,
the Order Paper has a double significance. It contains, first, all items
of business to be considered (orders) and, second, the sequence in which the
orders are to be considered.
The Standing Orders require the Clerk of
the House to provide the Speaker, each day before the House meets, with the
official agenda of proceedings for the
day. [55]
This rule has
traditionally been interpreted to mean that the Speaker must be in possession of
a copy of the Order Paper and Notice Paper before the business of the
House may proceed.
Historical Perspective
The Order Paper originated as a
document containing any item of business which the House had ordered to be taken
up on a specified day. The Order Paper still contains such
items; [56]
other items
are placed on the Order Paper not because the House has adopted an order
but because the Standing Orders require it, after proper
notice. [57]
Formerly, it was the practice for notices
submitted by Members to be appended to the Votes and Proceedings of the
sitting during which the notice was
given. [58]
The current
practice of producing the Notice Paper with the Order Paper began
on October 27, 1969, when the House was in the process of computerizing its
production processes for
publications. [59]
Role of the Speaker
As with other parliamentary publications,
the Order Paper and Notice Paper is published under the authority of the
Speaker of the House. When a notice is submitted for inclusion on the Notice
Paper, it is examined by procedural staff of the Clerk. If any procedural
irregularity is found, modifications as to the form and content of the notice
may then be made in consultation with the sponsoring
Member. [60]
Where
items of Private Members’ Business are concerned, it may happen that a
certain item for which notice has been given is deemed to be substantially the
same as another. In such cases, the rules give the Speaker discretionary power
to refuse the most recent notice, inform the Member and return the
item. [61]
Format and Contents
The Order Paper and Notice Paper is
a bilingual publication, available electronically and in a printed version. The
part containing the Order Paper is divided into sections corresponding to
the various categories of orders the House considers:
- Order of Business: Items for which
notice has already been given and which are awaiting introduction during Routine
Proceedings. They are listed under Introduction of Government Bills,
Introduction of Private Members’ Bills, First Reading of Senate Public
Bills, and Motions (including motions for concurrence in committee
reports);
- Government Orders: Items which are
already before the House and are awaiting first consideration or resumption of
debate. They are listed under Supply Proceedings, Ways and Means Proceedings,
Government Bills (Commons), Government Bills (Senate), and Government
Business;
- Notices of Motions for the
Production of Papers: This list appears only on
Wednesdays; [62]
- Private Members’ Business:
Items in the order of precedence appear in the order in which they are to be
considered by the House. The list may change from day to day as items are added
or dropped and because the rules allow exchanges of
place. [63]
The list of
items outside the order of precedence is available electronically, and an
updated copy is kept for consultation at the Table in the
House;
- Questions: Written questions are
printed only when they appear on the Notice Paper. The complete list of
questions on the Order Paper is also available electronically and at the
Table for consultation.
The Order Paper also includes the
“Weekly Review of Business”, a compilation of information on items
of business introduced, placed on notice or considered in the House during the
course of the week. The Review in Monday’s Order Paper contains the
complete summary for the preceding week. The information is also incorporated in
the Status of House Business, which is updated daily when the House
sits.
Similar to the Order Paper, items on
the Notice Paper are listed under the following categories of
business:
- Introduction of Government Bills;
- Introduction of Private Members’ Bills;
- Motions (Routine Proceedings);
- Questions;
- Notices of Motions for the Production of Papers;
- Business of Supply;
- Government Business;
- Private Members’ Notices of Motions;
- Private Members’ Business;
- Report Stage of Bills.
Transfer to Order Paper from Notice Paper
When the notice requirement for a given
item has been met, the notice is transferred to the appropriate section of the
Order Paper. Some particularities found in the Notice Paper are
worth noting:
- Opposition motions under Supply
proceedings, which are to be debated on “allotted” or
“opposition” days, require only 24 hours’
notice. [64]
The motion
is usually taken up by the House on the sitting day following the day notice is
given. The text of the motion appears simultaneously on the Order Paper
and on the Notice Paper.
- Motions to amend a bill at report
stage following second reading also require only 24 hours’
notice. [65]
In order
to keep all such proposed amendments together, the list of these notices
together with the list of any deferred divisions on report stage motions are
kept in the Notice Paper even after the notice requirement has been
met.
- The rules require that any item of
Private Members’ Business to be considered on a given day must also appear
on that day’s Notice Paper; if the notice does not appear, no
Private Members’ Business is taken up that
day. [66]
Written questions appear once on the
Notice Paper when notice is given, and are then moved to the list of
questions on the Order Paperwhich is available electronically and at the
Table. [67]
When a question has been dealt with (answered, made an order for return,
withdrawn or
transferred [68]),
the fact is noted in the Status of House Business.
Withdrawing Items from the Order Paper
As long as a motion has not been proposed
to the House, it remains a notice and the sponsoring Member is free to withdraw
it; the consent of the House is not
required. [69]
A notice
may be withdrawn in one of two ways: the Member either makes a written request
to the Clerk to withdraw the notice or rises in the House to withdraw the notice
orally. [70]
This
applies to items on the Notice Paper and on the Order Paper, as
long as the House has not been seized of them — for example, bills not yet
introduced, motions not yet
moved, [71]
and notices
of motions for the production of
papers. [72]
The item
is then removed from the Notice Paper or the Order Paper. In
addition, in certain circumstances notices have been removed from the Order
Paper and Notice Paper by the Speaker when informed, for example, of the
death or resignation of a sponsoring
Member. [73]
On one
occasion, the Speaker informed the House that a revised Notice Paper had
been prepared, which included notices of report stage amendments inadvertently
left off the original. [74]
Once a notice has been transferred to the
Order Paper and moved in the
House, [75]
it is
considered to be in the possession of the House and can only be removed from the
Order Paper by an order of the House; that is, the Member who has moved
the motion requests that it be withdrawn, and the House must give its unanimous
consent. [76]
Special Order Paper
From time to time, a Special Order Paper is
published. [77]
This
may happen before the opening of the first or a subsequent session of a
Parliament, or when the House stands adjourned and the government wishes the
House to give immediate consideration to a matter or matters for which notice
would have to be given. [78]
Once advised of
this, the Speaker ensures that the required notice is published in a Special
Order Paper, which is circulated to Members at least 48 hours before the
session either begins or resumes.
The format of a Special Order Paper
is like that of a regular Order Paper. It contains only the notices of
the measure or measures which are to receive the immediate consideration of the
House.
The Projected Order of Business
The Order Paper lists all the
business which might be taken up by the House on a given day, but it does not
indicate which items the government intends, or is likely, to call. The
Projected Order of Business, published each sitting day, is a tentative
working agenda which lists all the government and Private Members’
Business expected to be taken up on a particular day. It was first published in
1983 as a result of a special procedure committee’s identification of the
need for a “simplified, unofficial, daily agenda, in addition to the
Order Paper, to indicate the likely order of business for any particular
day”. [79]
Format and Contents
The Projected Order of Business is
produced in side-by-side bilingual format. A printed version is available and
distributed daily to Members when the House sits; in addition, it is available
electronically and may also be viewed on the parliamentary television
channel.
Material is organized under a sequence of
headings corresponding to the Order of Business for the day, including
Government Orders and Private Members’ Business. Entries under the
headings indicate which items from the Order Paper are expected to be
taken up when that heading is called by the Chair. When no entry appears under
items for which notice is required, it may be taken to mean either that the
Order Paper has no items listed for that category of business, or that
any of the items appearing on the Order Paper under that heading may be
taken up. Typically, there would be no entries under other items which do not
require notice, such as tabling of documents or presenting
petitions.
In addition, the Projected Order of
Business contains notes providing the reader with information, such as
length of speeches and any time limits on debate (with reference to the
applicable Standing or Special Orders) applying to items expected to come before
the House, as well as a projection of business for subsequent days. The
projection is based on the order of precedence for Private Members’
Business and on the weekly statement on government
business. [80]
Subject to Change
Items listed under the heading of
Government Orders are included on the basis of the weekly business statements
and information provided to the Clerk by the office of the Government House
Leader. As indicated on the document itself, the listing is subject to change
without notice, as the government retains its right to determine the sequence in
which items of government business are called and
considered. [81]
The Status of House Business
The Status of House Business
provides a concise history of each item of business which has been consiered by
the House or which has appeared on the Order Paper and Notice Paper since
the beginning of the session. Produced under the authority of the Clerk, it is
available electronically and updated daily. Until the end of the Thirty-Fifth
Parliament (1994-97), the Status of House Business was printed
approximately once a month when the House was sitting.
Format and Contents
The Status of House Business is
produced in both official languages and has three parts. Part I contains the
legislative history of all the bills in the House (government bills and private
Members’ bills, as well as bills originating in the Senate). Part II gives
similar information with respect to motions (motions under Government Orders,
motions for the production of papers, private Members’ motions and motions
dealing with other business such as the operations of the House and its
committees). Part III contains information on written questions submitted by
private Members.
The Status of House Business is
accompanied by an alphabetical, subject-based index. References in this index
are to the various items of business and sections of the document. Lists are
provided under certain headings, such as bills, government business, Supply
proceedings and Ways and Means proceedings.
Minutes of Proceedings, Evidence and Reports of Committees
Each committee of the House produces its
own records. Since 1995, these records have become available primarily by
electronic means. They include three main documents:
- the minutes of proceedings: the formal record of business occurring during a committee meeting;
- the evidence: the in extenso transcript of what is said during a meeting;
- reports to the House: the means by which committees make their views and recommendations known.
All committee records are made available
electronically under the authority of the Speaker of the House. Under the
Standing Orders, committees are empowered to print papers and evidence in
accordance with any such decision they may
make. [82]
However,
this authority is somewhat qualified by limitations set by the Board of Internal
Economy. [83]
Corrections and Alterations
Unedited transcripts of committee
proceedings, known (as with the Debates) as “blues”, are made
available on request to committee members, usually within 24 hours after a
committee meets. Traditionally, minor corrections could be effected by informing
the committee clerk, who would have an erratum printed; corrections of a
more significant nature would be made by the committee itself as a
corrigendum. [84]
In 1993, the decision of a committee to alter its official record by expunging
portions of testimony gave rise to a question of privilege in the House. The
Speaker’s ruling established that a committee’s power to print
includes the right not to print, which may be extended to a decision to omit
evidence from the record. [85]
Bills
The House of Commons considers proposed
laws — or bills — submitted for its approval by Ministers or private
Members. Bills originating in the House are published and circulated under the
authority of the Speaker; they are also available in electronic format. They are
designated by letter and number in accordance with the type of bill and its
House of origin. Bills originating in the House and sponsored by Ministers are
numbered from C-1 to C-200, in the order of their introduction during the
session. Bills originating in the House and sponsored by private Members are
likewise numbered from C-201 to C-1000 through the session. All bills
originating in the Senate are numbered from S-1. Most private bills originate in
the Senate, but any originating in the Commons would be numbered from C-1001.
All bills originating in the House are printed in both official languages by
order of the House. [86]