Welcome

Welcome to the online version of the fourth edition of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, published in 2025, created to provide users with searchable, easy to navigate access to one of the key procedural authorities used by members of the Canadian House of Commons.

Copies of this book are available for sale at the Parliamentary Boutique. We invite you to contact the Boutique for more information.

Notice

This edition of House of Commons Procedure and Practice contains updated procedure and precedents. However, readers should be mindful that procedure is ever-evolving, and therefore this text may not be current at the time of reading.

Furthermore, in this edition, references to the Standing Orders are based on the consolidated version in effect as of April 29, 2025, reproduced in Appendix 17. The latest version of the Standing Orders is available on the House of Commons website.

Overview

• Preliminary Pages
• Chapter 1Parliamentary Institutions
• Chapter 2Parliaments and Ministries
• Chapter 3Privileges and Immunities
• Chapter 4The House of Commons and Its Members
• Chapter 5Parliamentary Procedure
• Chapter 6The Physical and Administrative Setting
• Chapter 7The Speaker and Other Chair Occupants
• Chapter 8The Parliamentary Cycle
• Chapter 9Sittings of the House
• Chapter 10The Daily Program
• Chapter 11Questions
• Chapter 12The Process of Debate
• Chapter 13Rules of Order and Decorum
• Chapter 14The Curtailment of Debate
• Chapter 15Special Debates
• Chapter 16The Legislative Process
• Chapter 17Delegated Legislation
• Chapter 18Financial Procedures
• Chapter 19Committees of the Whole
• Chapter 20Committees
• Chapter 21Private Members’ Business
• Chapter 22Public Petitions
• Chapter 23Private Bill Practice
• Chapter 24The Parliamentary Record
• Appendices
• Index