Members submit written questions to get detailed, lengthy or technical information from the government. A written question is accepted and added to the Order Paper if it follows the House’s rules and practices. Its subject matter must also relate to public affairs under the responsibility of the federal government or Parliament.
Each question is assigned a number after it is submitted, and numbering is reset at the beginning of each parliamentary session. Members are allowed to have a maximum of four questions on the Order Paper at any one time. They usually request that the government respond to their questions within 45 calendar days. A Member may also request a verbal response; this request is then indicated on the Order Paper. Once a Member’s question is answered by the government, the Member can submit another question to be added to the Order Paper.
For more information about written questions, visit the following web pages:
- Our Procedure (Questions)
- House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Third Edition, 2017 (Written Questions)
- Standing Orders (Questions – Written Questions)
The government responds to written questions during a sitting of the House, normally during Routine Proceedings. When the time comes to answer the questions on the Order Paper, a minister or a parliamentary secretary announces which ones the government intends to answer on that day.
Links to government responses can also be found in Hansard or the Journals published on the day the questions are answered.
Should the government fail to respond to a question within 45 calendar days, this fact is automatically referred to the standing committee selected by the Member who submitted the question. Or, instead of selecting a standing committee, the Member could decide to take the matter up during Adjournment Proceedings.
For more information about government responses to written questions, visit the following web pages:
- Our Procedure (Questions)
- House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Third Edition, 2017 (Written Questions)
- Standing Orders (Questions – Written Questions)
This site has powerful search tools. Many options can be used when searching for written questions with their government responses:
- Keywords or text in the search box located at the top right of each page.
- Refiners in the drop-down menu at the top of the Questions and Responses page.
- A combination of keywords and refiners.
Note: While links to government responses are provided for questions dating back to January 29, 2001 (37th Parliament, 1st Session), only government responses provided for questions submitted after October 29, 2025 (when this site was launched) can be searched on this site.
Keyword searches
To get started, enter the question’s number, the Member’s name or a keyword in the search box. Keyword searches are neither case- nor accent-sensitive.
Note: Keyword searches, by default, will return results from the current parliamentary session. To search for past questions and responses, select a past session or “All” in the session drop-down menu, then enter your keyword.
You can improve your search results by using the operators and symbols below.
| Operator | Symbol | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Phrases | " " |
To search for an exact phrase, enclose all words in double quotation marks (" "). For example, use "income tax" or "budget implementation" to get results that include all terms and not just the individual terms. |
| Wildcard | * |
Use the asterisk (*) at the end of a keyword to represent any number of unknown characters (including zero). For example, tax* will return results that include the word “tax” and other forms of that word like “taxation” or “taxable.” |
| Included terms | AND & + |
Use AND, the ampersand (&) or the plus sign (+) between two keywords to get results that include both terms. For example, fisheries AND oceans or fisheries & oceans or fisheries + oceans will return results that include both the words “fisheries” and “oceans.” Note: AND is the default operator and is not required. Searches using “fisheries + oceans” and “fisheries oceans” will yield the same results. |
| Alternate terms | OR | |
Use OR or a vertical line (|) between two keywords to get results that include either term or both. For example, trade OR commerce or trade | commerce will return results that include either “trade” or “commerce” or both terms. |
| Excluded terms | NOT ! - |
Use NOT, the exclamation point (!) or the minus sign (-) in front of a word to indicate that the term must not appear in the search results. For example, broadcasting NOT telecommunications, broadcasting !telecommunications, or broadcasting -telecommunications will search for content with the word “broadcasting” but not “telecommunications.” |
| Parentheses | ( ) |
To determine the order of searches, use parentheses with a combination of operators or symbols. The terms and operators inside the parentheses are considered first. For example, (health OR climate) AND emergency would return results with the following combinations of keywords: either 1) “health” and “emergency,” 2) “climate” and “emergency” and/or 3) “health,” “climate” and “emergency.” Another example: health OR (climate AND emergency) would return results with the following combinations of keywords: either 1) “health” only, 2) “climate” and “emergency” and/or 3) “health,” “climate” and “emergency.” |
| Proximity search | ~ |
To find terms that are near each other in a document, use a tilde (~) at the end of a phrase followed by a number to indicate the maximum number of words between each term. For example, “tax fees”~6 would find the terms “tax” and “fees” within 6 words of each other. |
Refiners
From the Questions and Responses page, you can select refiners in the drop-down menus to narrow your search.
| Refiner | Description |
|---|---|
| Session |
You can search a single session only or all previous sessions since the 1st Session of the 37th Parliament. By default, the current session will be selected. |
| Current status |
You can search by status: Awaiting a response: A question that has been submitted by the Member and added to the Order Paper. Answered: A question that has been answered by the government. Withdrawn: A question that has been removed by the Member who no longer wants to receive an answer. Passed deadline: A question that has not been answered within 45 days from the date it appeared on the Order Paper. By default, the search tool will include every status. |
| Asked by Member of Parliament |
You can select one or more Members who submitted written questions. Members will not appear on the list if they did not submit a written question during the selected session. By default, the search tool will include all Members who submitted written questions during the current session. |
| Calendar dates |
You can search by calendar dates and select one or more dates combined with a current status. If you select the “All” or “Awaiting response” status, your search will return all written questions that were active during your selected date range. If you select the “Answered,” “Withdrawn” or “Passed deadline” status, your search will only return written questions that were answered or withdrawn during your selected date range or that show as still unanswered during that date range. By default, the search tool will include all dates in the current session. |
| Responding federal institution |
You can select one or more government departments or agencies that submitted a response to a written question. By default, the search tool will include all federal institutions that responded to written questions. |
| Political affiliation |
You can select one or more of the political affiliations associated with the Members who submitted written questions. By default, the search tool will include all political affiliations. |
General information
Please email your comments or questions to info@parl.gc.ca.
Please submit any comments or questions by mail or phone:
Library of Parliament
Information Service
Parliament of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A9
Phone:
1-866-599-4999 or
613-992-4793
TTY:
613-995-2266
Technical support
If you are having technical difficulties, please contact infonet@parl.gc.ca.
Accessibility
The House of Commons is committed to providing positive experiences for all users.
Government responses to written questions are sent to the House of Commons electronically. The responses are posted without modification as soon as possible after being tabled in the House, but there may be delays if many responses are tabled on the same day.
Although the House of Commons is not responsible for the content and format of government responses, it will help those requiring an accessible format to address the issue with the Privy Council Office.
For more information, please see the Accessibility page on the House of Commons website.