The House of Commons

The House of Commons has recently provided for adjournment debates on

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Five debate subjects are usually provided for on

each day, with two 90-minute debates, followed by three half-hour debates. This is

similar to the recent House of Representatives practice of permitting "Morning Hour"

debates on certain days of the week, for periods not to exceed ninety minutes.

The House of Representatives' long-standing custom of permitting, at the

Speaker's discretion, one-minute speeches at the beginning of a session day seems

to have no analog in the House of Commons.

Parliamentary Questions

On four meeting days each week, Cabinet Ministers respond to oral questions

from rank-and-file MPs. The practice has never been adopted in the House of

Representatives, although proposals for experimental use of a question period have

been offered periodically in Congress. All Cabinet Ministers are expected to

participate in the oral question process on a regularly scheduled basis, and the Prime

Minister now appears at noon on Wednesdays for 30 minutes. The Leader of the

Opposition is entitled to offer six questions to the Prime Minister during this period,

and the leader of the second-largest opposition party, two.

MPs who wish to ask questions for oral answer submit their questions two

weeks in advance of a minister's scheduled appearance. A drawing is held to

determine which questions will be asked in which order, although only a few will

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