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Audrey O'Brien
In the fall of 1980, the Table Research Branch was established by the
late Dr. C.B. Koester, then Clerk of the House, with the support and
encouragement of Speaker Jeanne Sauvé. A visionary in his conception of a
professional procedural cadre, Dr. Koester hoped that the creation of the Branch
might lead, in time, to the production of an original, comprehensive manual of
procedure and practice in the House of Commons. This hope was realized in 2000.
Today, the Table Research Branch continues to provide the House with a focal
point for procedural expertise, research, advice, archiving, training,
professional development, and outreach. It has become the House’s institutional
memory, the creator and maintainer of key reference works on Canadian
parliamentary procedure and a valuable resource for Members of Parliament
seeking accurate procedural information and impartial advice. Technological
advances have transformed its modus operandi over the years, and the Branch’s
original mandate has expanded to meet the increasing demands for providing
training and information about how Parliament works to a wider audience
including visiting officials from other legislatures.
The first detailed proposal for establishment of a specialized procedural
research office dates back to the fall of 1973 and was put forward by a
respected senior manager and procedural clerk, the late Michael B. Kirby.
The limitations of primary reference works was generally acknowledged by
the procedural community as was the habit of consulting British authorities,
despite their inadequacy in view of the marked divergence in organization
and practice between the Canadian and British institutions.
Following the 1980 report of the Auditor General of Canada requested by
Speaker Jeanne Sauvé, the House of Commons underwent a major reorganization
which included the procedural sector. Procedural activities were concentrated
in three offices, one of them a new Table Research Branch.
At its inception, the Branch was placed under the direction of a Principal
Clerk and its resources were limited to two researchers and a secretary.
Its mandate was narrow – to provide accurate, timely information to the
Speaker, to the Clerk and the Table, to House Leaders and to Members of
Parliament.
The years that followed saw a gradual broadening of the Branch’s mandate
as resources were allocated to the task of consolidating sets of frequently
overlapping, incomplete and conflicting files from other Branches in the
procedural sector.
By 1986, Table Research Staff was comprised of a Principal Clerk and a
Deputy Principal Clerk, eleven procedural clerks, and three support staff.
With satellite units in the Journals Branch and in the Committees Directorate,
the mandate of Table Research had also broadened considerably:
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to compile, catalogue, analyse and synthesize information relating to the
procedures, precedents and practices of the House of Commons and its committees;
- to provide information and advice on parliamentary procedure to the Speaker,
to the Table, to the Members and their staff, and to various other interested
parties (public servants, academics, procedural officers in other jurisdictions
in Canada and abroad, and the general public);
- to develop and direct the procedural training and development of staff
of the House of Commons and to co-ordinate procedural briefings and orientation
sessions for Members and staff, for senior public servants and for officers
from legislatures in other jurisdictions.
This broader mandate has since evolved into several distinct areas of information
and knowledge management.
Evolution of the Table Research Branch
Under the general rubric of “Procedural Information”, the procedural clerks
at the Branch, by the mid 1980’s, already had built an extensive library
and comprehensive research files. They had published several volumes of
selected decisions of past Speakers, and were at work on others. They had
produced a widely-consulted Précis of Procedure and were compiling databases
of procedural events at the House, chief among them the Procedural Review,
which captures all events of procedural significance in the House. The
most ambitious creative projects were being undertaken by a special semi-autonomous
office within TRB known as the Bourinot Project.
The primary goal and accomplishment of the Bourinot team of senior procedural
researchers was the writing and publication of an original and comprehensive
reference text on parliamentary procedure and practice in the Canadian
House of Commons, reflecting its entire history and contemporary usage.
Before the Bourinot researchers could begin work on this project it was
necessary for them to establish and maintain a single database consolidating
all procedural information and precedents accumulated during the life of
Canada’s Parliament. The centralising of procedural research at the House,
and new advances in computer technology were essential to this (ongoing)
task – indeed that task itself moved the concept of “centralization” to
a new and unprecedented level.
The Annotated Standing Orders, published in 1989, represented a second
key prerequisite before work could begin on House of Commons Procedure
and Practice. By tracing the historical evolution of each Standing Order
and providing a commentary on the practical operation in each case, the
reading of the Standing Orders was made more informative and contextual.
Largely as a result of the work accomplished, the House saw fit to renumber
and regroup the Standing Orders to their present configuration. A second
edition reflecting the continuing evolution of the Standing Orders is currently
being prepared and is eagerly anticipated.
The creation of procedural databases, together with the publication of
the Annotated Standing Orders set the stage for work to begin in earnest
on a comprehensive procedural manual. After years of effort by a large
team of researchers and writers, House of Commons Procedure and Practice,
edited by Robert Marleau, the former Clerk of the House, and Camille Montpetit,
the former Deputy Clerk, was published in June of 2000. It has become the
primary reference book on Canadian parliamentary procedure, and is in constant
use, not only in Ottawa, but in many of the provincial legislatures across
Canada. It was (and is) the crowning achievement of the Bourinot researchers
and of the Table Research Branch. Table Research staff are currently compiling
information for a second edition.
Another project was the creation of the SWATT team. SWATT is an acronym
usually associated with crisis intervention in law enforcement. In 1987,
a procedural “SWATT team”, a special sub-group of procedural clerks operating
within the Table Research Branch, was established to respond to urgent
requests from the Table and the Chair on procedural issues. The SWATT clerks
follow events in the Chamber very closely and stand ready to respond, at
the request of the Clerk, to situations as they arise. They prepare draft
rulings for the Speaker on questions of privilege, points of order and
other procedural issues and provide background research on matters arising
in the Chamber and in committees.
The Table Research Branch also provides new Members of Parliament and their
staff with a comprehensive orientation and introduction to parliamentary
procedure organized by the Branch and also holds information sessions and
ad hoc briefings for Members, their staff, government departments, students,
scholars and visiting parliamentarians and parliamentary officials.
The Branch produces a practical guide for each incoming Speaker and the
other Chair occupants on the essentials of House of Commons procedure.
The Table Research Branch is also charged with the design and implementation
of a training program for new procedural clerks and with in-house procedural
training sessions for all procedural and non-procedural staff.
Staff of the Table Research Branch draft replies for the Speaker and the
Clerk to correspondence on procedural matters. They respond to written,
electronic and telephone enquiries from Members of Parliament and their
staff, from other legislatures and from the public. They prepare articles
and replies to questionnaires for professional and parliamentary publications
and conduct research on matters under consideration by or of potential
concern to the House or its committees.
In addition to the publications already discussed, the Branch also produces
a glossary of parliamentary terms and fact sheets on procedure which are
available on the parliamentary website. The Précis of Procedure, a guide
for the lay person, is also on the website (an expanded and more comprehensive
replacement, the Compendium of Procedure, is currently being developed),
as is an electronic version of House of Commons Procedure and Practice.
A close relationship with the Canadian Study of Parliament Group and with
the Parliamentary Interns allows the Table Research Branch to keep abreast
of topical academic and research issues at the national level and across
the country.
Table Research Today
The Table Research Branch has become the custodian of the information assets
of Procedural Services, including publications, books, files, binders,
and electronic databases. As a centre of procedural expertise, its success
is greatly derived from the knowledge and experience of its staff.
Parliamentarians and many organisations and individuals have come to rely
upon the Table Research Branch for the consistent production of authoritative,
useful and timely products. As the Branch increasingly directs information
and publications to the Web, greater effort is being devoted to maintaining
current material in electronic format. State of the art systems (including
a powerful in-house system called PRISM) have been developed to meet this
objective.1
From tentative beginnings 25 years ago, the Table Research Branch of the
House of Commons has become an indispensable resource to all who serve
Parliament – one that continues to pursue innovative approaches to the
meeting of its important mandate. The appetite of parliamentarians for
historical background and precedents for various initiatives, as well as
insights arising from developments in other jurisdictions will continue
to engage us. We are confident that 25 years hence, the Branch, adapted
as necessary to changing circumstances, will still be welcoming new challenges.
Notes
1. See Audrey O’Brien, “Prism: The House of Commons Integrated Technology
Project”, Canadian Parliamentary Review, vol. 25, Summer 2002.
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