The Daily Program

Adjournment Proceedings

One Standing Order provides for an automatic adjournment of the House on each sitting day, while another stipulates that motions to adjourn the House are not debatable. As an exception to these rules, the House has agreed to a third Standing Order (first adopted in 1964) which provides that on four days of the week the Speaker will deem that a motion to adjourn the House has been moved and seconded, and an adjournment “debate” will then take place. This debate, officially called the Adjournment Proceedings, is more familiarly known as the “Late Show”.

The adjournment debate is used as a vehicle for brief exchanges on predetermined topics. The proceedings can take up to 30 minutes, at which time the motion to adjourn is deemed carried.

During Speaker Fraser’s term, the Standing Orders pertaining to the daily adjournment debate were revised in two major respects. When Speaker Fraser was first elected, the Standing Orders provided for three matters to be considered for no more than 10 minutes each. The purpose of the adjournment debate was to provide those members who were dissatisfied with an answer given to them during Oral Questions with an opportunity to raise the subject-matter at adjournment, as well as an opportunity for the pertinent minister or parliamentary secretary to speak on the matter as well. In April 1991, the Standing Orders were amended to provide debate on any one matter could be considered for no more than six minutes, thus increasing the number of members who could be heard during the overall 30-minute period.

As well in April 1991, amendments to the Standing Orders were adopted with respect to Order Paper questions and which impacted on the adjournment debate. The new rules provided that if a member had not received an answer to a particular Order Paper question within a 45-day period, he or she could then request to have the question transferred and the subject-matter of the question raised on the adjournment of the House. Thus, there were now two ways for a member to be included on the list to take part in the adjournment debate: by written notice to the Speaker within one hour following Oral Questions (with reference to dissatisfaction with an answer given in question period), or by oral notice in the House when the rubric Questions on the Order Paper were called under Routine Proceedings (with reference to a question on the Order Paper not being answered within the required 45-day period).

The Chair occupants remain responsible for order and decorum during the adjournment debate, as with any other proceeding in the House. One of the rulings in this chapter thus reiterates those of past Speakers, by emphasizing that points of order should not be raised during this period. In addition, a ruling indicates the first and only transfer of a written question to take place during Speaker Fraser’s term.