Chapter 19Committees of the Whole

Reporting of Proceedings

Journals

Proceedings and decisions taken in a Committee of the Whole are not recorded in the Journals.²¹⁷ Because the House is not officially informed of the proceedings in a Committee of the Whole until the Committee has reported, note is made in the Journals only when the House goes into a Committee of the Whole, when the Committee reports progress and when the Committee reports a bill, with or without amendment, or reports one or more resolutions. If amendments are adopted to a bill in a Committee of the Whole, they are published in the Journals when the Committee reports the bill to the House.²¹⁸

Debates, Broadcasting and Webcasting

Proceedings in a Committee of the Whole are broadcast live and the proceedings are also recorded in the Debates of the House.²¹⁹

217.: Bourinot, Parliamentary Procedure and Practice, 4th ed., p. 399. Amendments and divisions have been recorded in the Journals, but this practice was exceptional. For an example of proceedings in a Committee of the Whole on a bill in the early years of Confederation, see Journals, April 22, 1870, pp. 230–1. Prior to 1968 when resolutions were adopted in a Committee of the Whole before the first reading of a bill, proceedings in regard to these resolutions were also recorded in the Journals. See, for example, Journals, June 21, 1965, p. 284. Proceedings of Committees of Supply and of Ways and Means were recorded in the Journals as were any resolutions providing for the expenditure of public money or the imposition of taxes. See, for example, Journals, October 19, 1962, pp. 124–5; May 28, 1965, p. 161. See also Journals, January 28, 1988, p. 2076, when the House resolved into a Committee of the Whole to consider an item in the supplementary estimates.
218.: See, for example, Journals, December 2, 1997, p. 316; October 6, 1998, p. 1125; October 19, 2000, p. 2081. In 1971, proposed government amendments to a bill were tabled and printed as an Appendix to the Votes and Proceedings (Journals, October 13, 1971, p. 868; October 28, 1971, p. 895). The amendments were subsequently moved and printed in the Debates the following day (Debates, October 22, 1971, pp. 8934–61; October 29, 1971, pp. 9157–70). On another occasion, the Royal Recommendations covering motions in amendment moved in a Committee of the Whole were printed in the Journals (June 2, 1983, pp. 5954–7).
219.: See for example, Debates, October 19, 2000, pp. 9287–9; February 24, 2015, pp. 11631–60.

For questions about parliamentary procedure, contact the Table Research Branch

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