Search Help
ProceduralInfo is your primary source of information regarding parliamentary procedure. Gain a thorough understanding of the procedures and practices of the House of Commons by accessing a range of resources, such as:
- The full text of all editions of House of Commons Procedure and Practice.
- The current Standing Orders of the House of Commons.
- The collections of significant Speakers' decisions since 1966.
- The basics of parliamentary procedure, sorted by subject, to assist your understanding of the workings of the House of Commons and its committees.
- Practical information and guides to access instructional materials relevant to specific business of the House.
- Improved search functionality across procedural resources that allows you to refine results to your needs.
Search Features
- Keyword text-based searches are initiated by using the search box located at the top right of each page of the ProceduralInfo section of the House of Commons Website.
- Keyword searches are neither case- nor accent-sensitive.
How to get the most out of keyword searches
You can improve your search results by using operators and symbols as outlined below.
| Operator | Symbol | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Phrases | " " |
To search for an exact phrase, enclose all the words in double quotes. For example, use "unparliamentary language" or "Decisions of committee chairs" to retrieve text that contains those specific phrases and not just the individual terms. |
| Wildcard | * |
Use * (asterisk) to represent any number of characters (including zero). For example, govern* will retrieve text that contains the words governance, governing, government or governor. |
| Included terms | AND & + |
Use AND or & (ampersand) or + (plus sign) between words to retrieve text that contains both terms. For example, privilege AND conduct, or privilege & conduct, or privilege + conduct will retrieve text that contains both privilege and conduct. Note: AND is the default operator and is not required. The search terms "privilege + conduct" and "privilege conduct" will yield the same results. |
| Alternate terms | OR | |
Use OR or | (vertical line) between words to retrieve text that contains either term. For example, decisions OR rulings, or decisions | rulings, will retrieve text that contains either decisions, rulings, or both terms. |
| Excluded terms | NOT ! - |
Use NOT, ! (exclamation point) or - (minus sign) in front of a word to indicate that the term must not appear in the text. For example, motion NOT routine, motion !routine, motion -routine to retrieve text that contains the word motion but not routine. |
| Parentheses | ( ) |
Use parentheses to determine the order of searches using a combination of operators or symbols. The terms and operators inside the parentheses are done first. For example (budget OR estimates) AND notice, would return text containing the following combinations of keywords: either budget and notice, estimates and notice, and/or containing budget, estimates and notice. Placed in another location, notice OR (budget AND estimates) would retrieve text containing the following combinations of keywords: either notice (only), budget and estimates, and/or containing notice, budget and estimates. |
| Proximity search | ~ |
Use proximity searches to find terms that are near each other in a document. Insert a tilde (~) symbol at the end of a phrase (enclosed in double quotes) followed by the number of words to specify the proximity limit of each term. For example, "admissibility motion"~3 would find the terms "admissibility" and "motion" within 3 words of each other. |
How to use refiners to optimize your search
From the Search Results page, you can refine the displayed results by using the toggle buttons to include or exclude any document category. Any specific document within the categories may also be included or excluded from the search by turning the toggle on or off next to the document title in the drop-down menus.
By default, the search tool performs a search through the text of the latest edition of House of Commons Procedure and Practice and all other documents.
Note
This search is URL driven, as such users may bookmark any specific search set-up to reuse the same search parameters.
Technical support
In the event you encounter technical difficulties, please contact infonet@parl.gc.ca.