Definitions

About the Members Web Site

1. Where does the information displayed on this Web site come from?
2. What kind of information can be found on this Web site?
3. Why information is broadcast in the media not reflected on this Web site?
4. How frequently is the information updated?
5. How do I do search on this Web site?
6. How do I use the Customizable Reports function?
7. What is the difference between information identified as "September 1997 to date " (or "June 1997 to date" and "January 2001 to date") and that identified as "1867 to date"?
8. What are the Party Standings in the House of Commons?
9. What is the Seating Plan of the House of Commons?
10. Sometimes, in the customizable reports, two constituencies share the same name. Why?

Technical issues

1. What is the purpose of the Print Format function?
2. May I change the typeface or font size of the text on this Web site to make it more readable?
3. Are there any technical constraints for browsing this Web site?

Disclaimers and Privacy Statement

Definitions

Associate Member (of a committee): Member of the House of Commons whose name appears on the list of Members who may be appointed as a member of a subcommittee or as a substitute member of a committee.

By-election: An election held to fill a vacancy arising during the course of a Parliament. The date of the by-election is set by the Governor in Council.

Cabinet: The executive of the Government, consisting of those Members and Senators appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. Formally a committee of the Privy Council, it is responsible for the administration of the Government and the establishment of its policy.

Caucus: A group composed of all Members and Senators of a given political party.

Certificate of election: A document transmitted by the Chief Electoral Officer to the Clerk of the House of Commons, following a general election or a by-election, certifying that a candidate has been duly elected to serve as a Member of Parliament for a particular constituency (or electoral district). A certificate of election may list the names of more than one duly elected candidate. A Member cannot be sworn in until the certificate of election is sent to the Clerk of the House following the election.

Chair (of a committee): Member of the House of Commons or Senator who presides over a meeting of a committee (sometimes in co-operation with another Member of the House of Commons or Senator).

Chair Occupants Those Members of Parliament who preside over the sittings and proceedings of the House of Commons, including the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees of the Whole, the Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole and the Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole.

Co-chair (of a committee): Member of the House of Commons or Senator who presides a meeting of a committee in co-operation with another Member of the House of Commons or Senator.

Committee: A body of Members, Senators, or Members and Senators, selected to consider such matters as the House may refer to it or empower it to examine, including bills. There are several types of committees: standing, legislative, special and joint as well as Committees of the Whole.

Committee of the Whole (House): All of the Members of the House present in the Chamber sitting as a committee. Presided over by a chair rather than by the Speaker, it studies appropriation bills and any other matters referred to it by the House.

Deputy Speaker: Title given to the Member elected as Chair of Committees of the Whole at the beginning of every Parliament. The Deputy Speaker replaces the Speaker when the latter is unavoidably absent.

Election candidate: Person who seeks a term of office from electors.

Election result: The election result for an election candidate may be one of the following:

1. Elected: the candidate was elected to the current parliament but was not a Member of the previous parliament.
2. Re-elected: the candidate was elected to the current parliament and was a Member of the previous parliament.
3. Defeated: the candidate was defeated in the election.

House Leader: The Member of a party responsible for its management in the House.

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons: The minister responsible for managing the Government's business in the House, including negotiating the scheduling of business with the House Leaders of the other political parties.

Member (of a committee): Member of the House of Commons or Senator who participates in the work of a committee.

Minister: A member of the executive, appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. Usually chosen from among existing Members and Senators, Ministers are responsible to Parliament for their official actions and those of their departments. Cabinet Ministers are given the title Honourable and membership on the Privy Council for life.

Ministry: The Ministry is made up of the Prime Minister, Ministers, Ministers of State and Secretaries of State. The Ministry normally begins on the date that the Prime Minister has taken the oath of office and ends on the date of acceptance of the Prime Minister's resignation or the date of his or her death.

Order of precedence: The order in which members of the Ministry are presented in House of Commons publications. In general, the order of precedence is determined according to the date of appointment to the Privy Council. The Prime Minister, however, is always ranked first and Ministers are placed ahead of Ministers of State. When there is more than one Minister or Minister of State appointed to the Privy Council on the same date, the order is then based on the date on which the person was first elected to the House of Commons. Unelected Ministers or Ministers of State appointed to the Privy Council on the same date are placed in alphabetical order.

Parliament: A period of time during which the institution of Parliament exercises its powers. A Parliament has a constitutionally-determined maximum lifespan of five years. A Parliament may end with the dissolution of Parliament (and the start of a new general election) or at the end of the five-year term.

Parliamentary Secretary: A Member of the Government party named to assist a Minister as the Minister directs. A Parliamentary Secretary may table documents or answer questions on the Minister's behalf, but may not introduce Government bills. A Parliamentary Secretary may be sworn in as Privy Councillor.

Roles: The roles found in the tab Roles of a Members profile represent the functions that are commonly found in the parliamentary publications.

Session: One of the fundamental time periods into which a Parliament is divided, usually consisting of a number of separate sittings. Sessions are begun by a Speech from the Throne and are ended by prorogation or dissolution of the Parliament

Speaker (of the House of Commons): The Member elected by the House (by secret ballot) to preside over its proceedings. In particular, he or she is responsible for maintaining order and decorum. As Chair of the Board of Internal Economy, the Speaker oversees the administration of the House. In addition, the Speaker is the spokesperson and representative of the House of Commons in its relations with the Senate, the Crown and other bodies outside the House of Commons.

Vice-chair (of a committee): The Member of the House of Commons or Senator elected as deputy to the chair of a standing or special committee. The vice-chair may substitute for the chair when he/she is absent.

Whip: A Member charged with keeping other Members of the same party informed concerning House business and ensuring their attendance in the House or in committee, especially when a vote is anticipated. Each party normally has a chief whip and one or more deputy whips.

Writ of election: A document issued by the Chief Electoral Officer in order to institute an election in a specific electoral district. Following the election and the validation of the results, the name of the elected candidate is recorded on the writ by the returning officer who signs and returns it to the Chief Electoral Officer. Subsequently, the Chief Electoral Officer will send to the Clerk of the House of Commons a certificate of election for elected candidates.

About the Members Web Site

1. Where does the information displayed on this Web site come from?
   Three sets of data feed the Members Web Site:
   • Election data (such as election results, candidates names, constituency profiles) comes from Elections Canada
   • Information on Members of Parliament and their roles come from the House of Commons Administration and the Library of Parliament
   • Constituency office address information is obtained from the House of Commons Administration
   
   


2. What kind of information can be found on this Web site?
   This site contains information about Members of Parliament and their roles, chair occupants, ministers, constituencies, elections and election candidates. Please note that the information on this Web site only dates back to the 36th Parliament (i.e., the general election of June 2, 1997) with the exception of the Ministries which only go back as far as the 37th Parliament.
   


3. Why is information broadcast in the media not reflected on this Web site?
   The information on this Web site is updated only when the changes have been officially announced. The traditional sources of official information are the writs of election as well as letters from Members of Parliament, the whips, the party leaders, the Governemment and the Privy Council Office. It should be noted that there can be more than one change in the course of a day.
   


4. How frequently is the information updated?
   In general, the information is updated in the hour following official confirmation of a change.
   


5. How do I search on this Web site?
   There are two search engines on this Web site.
   1. The Quick Search engine of the Members Web Site: it allows a search of the database that makes up this Web site. All you need to do is to enter a word or part of a word in the search box and then click on Search. Note that the results of a search done with this engine are limited to current information.
   2. The search engine the Parliament of Canada Web site: it allows for a search on the whole Web site of the Parliament of Canada. All you need to do is to enter a word or part of a word in the search box and then click on Go. A more specific search can be made by using the Advanced Search function (the button to the right of the Go button).
   
   


6. How do I use the Customizable Reports function?
   You may generate customizable reports on Members of Parliament, constituencies and election candidates. To do a search, just choose the parameters in the appropriate fields (the drop-down lists under the heading Limit Results) on the left of the screen and then click on Search.
   You may also group the search results by selecting parameters in the appropriate fields (the drop-down lists under the heading Group Results) on the right of the screen.
   


7. What is the difference between information identified as "September 1997 to date " (or "June 1997 to date" and "January 2001 to date") and that identified as "1867 to date"?
   The information identified as "September 1997 to date " (or "June 1997 to date" and "January 2001 to date") comes from the Members' Web site whereas information identified "1867 to date " is a link to historical information provided by the Library of Parliament.
   


8. What are the Party Standings in the House of Commons?
   The Party Standings in the House of Commons is a document that is maintained by the Journals Branch of the House of Commons. It contains official information on representation in the House of Commons. It displays the number of Members by party and province or territory as well as all of the changes that have had an impact on the party standings since the last general election.
   


9. What is the Seating Plan of the House of Commons?
   The Seating Plan of the House of Commons shows the seat assignments in the Chamber of the House of Commons for all of the Members of Parliament. Each slot contains a seat number, the name of the Member occupying the seat and the name of the Members constituency. In the case of Ministers, the constituency name is replaced by the Ministers title. On the margins of the document, you will find an alphabetical list of Members grouped by party. Even though the seating plan may change many times during a session, only the current floor plan is available in this Web site.
   


10. Sometimes, in the customizable reports, two constituencies share the same name. Why?
    Following the Representation Order of 2003 of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, almost all the constituencies were affected by changes to their boundaries. A constituency that had its boundaries changed is considered a new constituency. In many cases, a new constituency has a new name. There are a few exceptions where a new constituency kept its prior name. This explains why there may be two constituencies with the same name. In such cases, the old constituency has an end date on its record.
    

Technical issues

1. What is the purpose of the Print Format function?
   The Print Format function allows you to print the information contained in the viewed Web page in a format that will be easy to print and read and that will be limited to that information instead of printing the whole page as it appears on the Web site.
   


2. May I change the typeface or font size of the text on this Web site to make it more readable?
   You can easily decrease or increase the size of the text on this site. For Internet Explorer, click on View in the Menu Bar, choose Text Size and then select the size that you would like. For Netscape Navigator, choose the View tab and then increase or decrease the font.
   


3. Are there any technical constraints for browsing this Web site?
   This site was designed to be browsed with versions 6.0 or higher of Internet Explorer and of Netscape. Most other browsers should work but unforeseen problems may also arise.
   

Disclaimers and Privacy Statement

Disclaimer of Liability
The parliamentary institutions accept no responsibility should any damages be caused to a person as a result of the use that is made of information provided in, or taken from, this site or as a result of reliance on the information available on the site.
This disclaimer of liability also applies to any damages or injury caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction, or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of information under any cause of action.

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Some areas of this web site provide links to websites operated by other government organizations, commercial firms, educational institutions, and private parties.
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These links are offered as a convenience and for informational purposes only.
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Privacy Statement
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