What is Hansard?
Briefly, Hansard is the official, complete report of proceedings in a parliament or Legislature. It's
named after Thomas Hansard, the publisher of the report of debates at the U.K. Parliament in the
early 19th century. Two of the parliamentary rule books used across Canada provide the
following general, official definitions. Each legislature or parliament, of course, has developed its
own specific rules and practices governing editing style, deadlines for publication, and the like.
The first official definition is from Beauchesne's Parliamentary Rules & Forms, 6th Edition. This
book is a compilation of procedures and practices in Canada's federal Parliament.
1117. (1) The Official Report of Debates, commonly referred to as Hansard, is the record of
speeches made in the House; it also contains answers to written questions on the Order Paper.
The debates of the House of Commons are reported verbatim, recording correctly what was said
by each Member in the House. Slight verbal alterations are allowed to be made by a Member in
order to make the meaning more precise and accurate; however, no words or phrases may be
inserted to effect material changes in the meaning of what was actually said in the House.
(2) Corrections may be made to Hansard. If the correction is of a very important nature the
Member shall rise in the House when Motions are called to explain the correction. At this time
the House gives its approval to the change. However, if the change is minor the Member should
inform the Editor of Debates directly, in order to have the correction made.
The second definition is from Erskine May, Parliamentary Practice, 21st Edition. This book is a
compilation of the rules and practices of the U.K. Parliament at Westminster.
In the Lords and Commons the regular reporting of parliamentary debates developed gradually
during the nineteenth century. The name generally used to describe the reports was
"Hansard."
This was due to the fact that T.C. Hansard was first the printer, and later the publisher, of the
official series of Parliamentary Debates covering both Houses inaugurated by William Cobbett in
1803. Grants were voted annually from 1878 to 1908 to further the publication of debates. In
1909 the present system was adopted, whereby the reports of debates are prepared by staff in the
direct employment of each House and issued in separate series. These reports were at first known
simply as "Parliamentary Debates, Official Report." In 1943 the word
"Hansard" was added to the
title . . .
The Official Report is a full report, in the first person, of all speakers alike, a full report being
defined as one "which, though not strictly verbatim, is substantially the verbatim report, with
repetitions and redundancies omitted and with obvious mistakes corrected, but which on the other
hand leaves out nothing that adds to the meaning of the speech or illustrates the argument."
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