Parliamentary Procedure

Parliamentary procedure defines the way Parliament operates and what it does. Procedure comes from the Parliamentary Rules and Procedure Act, passed unanimously on the 14th of October, 2020, and the Procedure Codification Act, passed on the 16th of December, 2020.

History
The Parliamentary Rules and Procedure Act laid the groundwork for how the House of Commons would operate, however it left many customs out. Seeing this, Prime Minister William Cooper wrote the Procedure Codification Act, broadly fixing the problems with the first piece of legislation.

Procedure for Bills
Bills follow a certain procedure before they are sent to the Senate and receive royal assent. They go through three distinct phases:

First Reading
The First Reading of a bill is when the bill is first introduced and read to the House. The Member of Parliament presenting it, also called the sponsor, will type in the Google Meet chat "Mister/Madam (Acting) Speaker/Deputy Speaker, I wish to introduce a bill into the house. Permission to proceed?" In order to present their bill the sponsor must receive permission from the Speaker. The bill is then read in its entirety, unless the sponsor has submitted a motion for brevity in which only a summary of the bill is read in addition to any clauses requested by Members. Members subsequently debate the bill and vote whether to adopt it at first reading, meaning to allow it to pass onto a second reading.

Second Reading
At Second Reading, which may take place on the same day as the First, the bill is amended. The Speaker will introduce the bill, and will yield the floor to the original sponsor of the bill at first reading, a present member of the same party, or a member present appointed by the Speaker/Deputy Speaker should none of the above members be present. The bill is then read clause by clause, and Members may motion to make amendments to it as the reading progresses. To motion to amend, members must say "Mister/Madam (Acting) Speaker/Deputy Speaker, I wish to call a motion to amend ‘part, clause, subclause, paragraph, subparagraph’ to read 'amendment.'" The amendments are then debated and voted on.

Third Reading
Third Reading may be combined for the sake of efficiency with Second Reading. During Third Reading, should it take place on a day separate from Second Reading, the bill is read before the House a final time, before being debated and voted on.

Procedure for Motions
Motions are introduced by Members of Parliament as points of order. They can be incredibly wide-reaching however they cannot effect actual change, instead serving more as a platform for spreading awareness or making a symbolic statement.

To introduce a motion, a Member must alert the speaker to their intention to do so. The motion is then read aloud and a written copy is submitted to the Speaker. The motion is then debated upon, amended, and finally voted on.