Question Period
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Question Period is also the name of a Canadian television program. For this entry, see Question Period (TV series).
Question Period, known officially as Oral Questions (French: questions orales) occurs each sitting day in the Parliament of Canada. According to the House of Commons Compendium, “The primary purpose of Question Period is to seek information from the Government and to call it to account for its actions.”[1]
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[edit] History
The first oral question occurred during the 1st Canadian Parliament, before formal rules were established providing for formal questions. According to the debates record for November 29, 1867, a question was posed to Chairman of the Printing Committee before Orders of the Day were called.[2]
In the absence of formal rules, the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada exerted great control over form, nature, and admissibility of questions. The first codification of formal rules to govern Question Period occurred in April 1964, and subsequent rule changes have been adopted; however, the opinion of the Speaker carries the most weight, as the actions of the Speaker set precedents when a new Point of Order or questions arises about practices during Question Period.
For a detailed discussion, see Robert Marleau and Camille Montpetit’s House of Commons Procedure and Practice
[edit] Current practice
Question Period lasts 45 minutes pursuant to Standing Order 30(5)[3], beginning no later than 2:15 P.M. or 11:15 AM, as the case may be. Typically, 2:15 p.m. is the start time for Question Period Monday through Thursday, with Question Period starting at 11:15 on Fridays.
Questions may be posed to either the Prime Minister or any Minister of the Cabinet of Canada, who will answer the question unless the Speaker rejects the question under established rules or accepted custom. For example, although it is not codified, questions on current legal matters before the courts are not acceptable questions.
[edit] Format
At the start of a typical Question Period, the Speaker will recognize the Leader of the Opposition, currently Stephane Dion, to ask the lead question. It is possible for the for the question to be asked by a designee of the Leader of the Opposion, yet this Member of Parliament must be a member of the Official Opposition
Following the answer to the lead question, the lead questioner has two more questions permitted, referred to as supplementary questions. These questions may be asked by the same Member of Parliament to follow up on the answer provided to the lead question , or they may be given to another member of the Official Opposition.
When the Official Opposition has exhausted its initial three questions, the lead questioners of the other officially-recognized opposition parties are permitted an initial question and one supplementary question each.
Given the composition of the current 39th Canadian Parliament, once Official Opposition is finished, the next question comes from the Bloc Quebecois, and is typically asked by party leader Gilles Duceppe. To complete the initial party rotation of questions, the New Democratic Party is also permitted a question and a supplemental, usually delivered by party leader Jack Layton.
Throughout the remainder of Question Period, Members of officially recognized parties ask questions in rotation. Members of the governing party may occasionally pose a question to one of their own, and although rare, independent Members may also be recognized to ask questions.
[edit] Rules
Question Period has a reputation for being quite chaotic due to the commonplace cat-calling and jeering from non-participating MPs, but notwithstanding the heckling, Question Period is actually tightly-regulated. Parties are only allowed to ask a predetermined number of questions based on the size of their caucus, and must ask their questions in a specific order, predetermined by their party leadership for that day on a list given to the Speaker.
Questions and responses are all timed as well, in order to prevent excessive speeches, and the Speaker of the House has the ability to cut the microphones of members speaking after the specified time has elapsed. The parties may negotiate a maximum time limit for each question and answer; currently this limit is 35 seconds for each.
As with other parliamentary procedures in the House, members of opposition parties must place questions through the Speaker, addressing them only indirectly to the minister responsible for the issue at hand. Furthermore, there is no obligation for the minister addressed in the question to actually respond, and often the minister's parliamentary secretary or a fellow cabinet member will rise to answer the question. This is particularly true when the minister addressed is not actually present in the House during Question Period, and arguably occurs most often when the Prime Minister is addressed on a specific issue for which one of his ministers has more information.
[edit] Bilingual nature
Reflecting the nature of Bilingualism in Canada, Question Period is bilingual. Questions may be posed in either English or French and responses may be in either official language. Simultaneous interpretation is provided, and records of Question Period are published in both official languages in the Canadian Hansard.
There is no guarantee that the answer will be provided in the same language as the question, and a Member relying on the simultaneous interpretation may respond to something differing slightly from the actual question asked. For the most part, bilingual Members respond to the question in the language in which it was asked.
The simultaneous translation provided to Members in the Chamber as well as visitors in the gallery is also available over the internet on either the website of the Parliament of Canada, or through services such as CPAC.
[edit] Additional notes
Each of the provincial legislatures also conducts its own form of question period.
Question Period in Canada is similar to the Prime Minister's Questions practice of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; however it is important to note that the Canadian version occurs daily as opposed to weekly, and that questions may be asked to any cabinet member, not just the Prime Minister.
[edit] See also
- Prime Minister's Questions in the British House of Commons
- Question Hour in the Lok Sabha
- Question Time in the Parliament of Australia
- Question and Answer Session in Hong Kong
- Question Period, a Canadian political news series on CTV which takes its name from this practice.
