House of Commons Procedure and Practice

The final category of business conducted on a sitting day is the Adjournment Proceedings. This period enables Members to seek further information from the government on questions raised in Question Period.^[408]

At the start of this maximum 30-minute period, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, a motion to adjourn the House is deemed to have been moved and seconded.^[409] No more than three brief exchanges are allowed on predetermined topics.^[410] Each of these topics may be debated for at most 10 minutes of the 30-minute period set aside for Adjournment Proceedings.^[411] No later than 5:00 p.m., the Speaker must tell the House which matter or matters are to be raised that day.^[412] At the outset of each 10-minute period, the Member raising the matter and the Minister or Parliamentary Secretary replying may each speak for not more than four minutes. Each may then make a subsequent one-minute intervention.^[413]

Points of order and questions of privilege may not be raised during this period, although the Speaker may read any messages from the Senate.^[414] After 30 minutes or on completion of debate, whichever comes first, the motion to adjourn is deemed to have been adopted, and the House is adjourned to the next sitting day.^[415] If a Member scheduled to raise a question during Adjournment Proceedings fails to appear, the adjournment notice shall be deemed withdrawn and the Member loses the opportunity to raise the question.^[416] On Fridays and on days where there are no questions scheduled for debate during the Adjournment Proceedings, the Speaker adjourns the House at the conclusion of the sitting.

   Historical Perspective

In a review of the Standing Orders in 1964, the House adopted a procedure committee proposal for the first‑ever Standing Order to regulate Question Period. At the same time, the House agreed to the committee’s suggestion that a rule on the Adjournment Proceedings be adopted to complement the Question Period Standing Order. The committee proposed a procedure whereby Members who felt dissatisfied with an answer given by the government to their question during Question Period could give notice that they wished to speak further on the subject matter of the question during the Adjournment Proceedings.^[417]

In addition, since 1991, any Member concerned that a written question he or she submitted for the Order Paper has remained unanswered after 45 calendar days may give notice of his or her intention to transfer the question to the Adjournment Proceedings.^[418] The question is then removed from the Order Paper and the Member’s name is placed on a list along with the names of other Members who have given notice of their intention to proceed in the Adjournment Proceedings.

Since 2001, Members are no longer required to speak from their assigned seat during the Adjournment Proceedings.^[419] The four‑minute time limit for the initial response from a Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary and the one‑minute right of reply date from the same period.^[420]

Despite the requirement for the Speaker to inform the House by 5:00 p.m. of the order in which questions are to be raised that day during the Adjournment Proceedings, Members raising questions would sometimes fail to appear for the adjournment debate.^[421] In September 2003, in order to discourage this practice, the House adopted a new Standing Order, stipulating that Members who failed to appear to raise their question during the time provided for the Adjournment Proceedings would not have their question taken up and the notice would be deemed withdrawn.^[422]

   Suspension or Delay of the Adjournment Proceedings

Occasionally, the Adjournment Proceedings are suspended because of other House orders specifying the completion or continuation of other business on a given sitting day. Adjournment Proceedings are suspended primarily when the sitting has been extended for an emergency debate,^[423] a take-note debate,^[424] when closure has been moved on an item,^[425] during proceedings for the election of the Speaker,^[426] and on the day designated for the presentation of the budget.^[427] When the House adopts a motion to adjourn early, Adjournment Proceedings do not take place.

The Adjournment Proceedings may be delayed when a sitting is extended due to a ministerial statement,^[428] a question period on a time allocation motion,^[429] the resumption of debate on concurrence in a committee report,^[430] when Private Members’ Business has been extended on the second sitting day set aside for the consideration of the report and third reading stages of a bill,^[431] and when a recorded division is deferred to the conclusion of Oral Questions.^[432] The Adjournment Proceedings may also be delayed on the last allotted day in the supply periods ending December 10, March 26 and June 23.^[433]

If a motion has been adopted to extend the hours of sitting during the last 10 sitting days in June, the Adjournment Proceedings are delayed until the agreed upon hour of adjournment.^[434] If a motion has been adopted to continue a sitting pursuant to Standing Order 26, the Adjournment Proceedings take place at the conclusion of the sitting.^[435] On occasion, the Adjournment Proceedings have been interrupted by Royal Assent and resumed upon the return of the House from the Senate following the ceremony.^[436] On other occasions, when the sitting of the House has been extended for the consideration of legislation or for a special debate, the House has opted to preserve the adjournment debate at its normal time; after the Adjournment Proceedings have concluded, instead of being automatically adopted, the motion to adjourn the House has been deemed withdrawn.^[437] The same applies to the provision that the Adjournment Proceedings must have been held before the House resolves into Committee of the Whole to consider the estimates designated by the Leader of the Opposition.^[438]