Parliamentary Internet Parlementaire
The Parliamentary Internet Parlementaire is a site dedicated to making
information about the Parliament of Canada available to the public. It is
a bilingual, non-partisan site that was launched in 1995 as a cooperative
venture between the House of Commons, the Senate and the Library of
Parliament. 3 The two major reasons for the introduction
of the site were to reduce costs and to increase the audience of various
publications and services of these bodies.
The site is organized into the following main sections: FAQ, What's New,
Visitor Information, Senators and Members, Educational and Reference
Information, Parliamentary Business and Publications, and Parliamentary
Gopher. There is also an option for comments to be sent to the site developers.
The Frequently Asked Questions section should be accessed first as it will
answer many questions which will no doubt arise as the user goes through the
site. The scope of the site is expounded upon delineating what is
available, what is not and why. It is through this section that the user
finds out that bills have been identified as a priority, but they are not in
a readily adaptable electronic form thus delaying their addition to the site.
The What's New section lists the new additions to the site. It breaks
them
down into the major sections to which they have been added and then where
appropriate, provides an explanation about the addition. For example, under
the Senate of Canada, the Journals of the Senate have been
added. A two or
three sentence annotation then explains the purpose of the
Journals. This
is very helpful for members of the general public who may be unfamiliar with
government publications. It also assists the user to decide prior to making
the link if they want to go there.
The Visitor Information section provides details for tourists on upcoming
events and activities on Parliament Hill. Schedules and fees are supplied.
This section of the site that had not been updated at the time of writing as
most of the activities listed were for 1995.
Senators and Members section enables users to locate information regarding
senators and members of the House of Commons. The senators are listed
alphabetically and then short biographies are reprinted from the 1995
edition of the Canadian Parliamentary Handbook. Newly
appointed Senator
Nick Taylor from Alberta was on the list, but no biographical information
was available. Further listings are available via to the Parliamentary
Gopher such as a list of senators by seniority and listing of senators and
their preferred official language. The members of the House of Commons are
arranged in five different ways: alphabetically, by constituency, by
province and territory, by political party, and by cabinet and ministry.
Profiles for the members are not provided. As with the senators, additional
listings can be accessed via the Parliamentary Gopher. One feature which
might be helpful here is the addition of a search engine which would allow
the user to type in a terms rather than skimming through listings.
The Educational and Reference Information Section has two offerings
that are
beneficial for research purposes: the On-line Tour of Canada's Parliament
and the Glossary of Parliamentary Procedure. The On-line Tour of Canada's
Parliament contains current and historical information about the Parliament
Buildings. Digitized photographs illustrate such events as the 1916 fire
which destroyed most of the Parliament Buildings and on the job with a
Member of Parliament. The architectural history of the buildings are
provided including designers, contractors, and costs. The Glossary of
Parliamentary Procedure is a useful but nonsearchable listing of commonly
used terms. The glossary contains concise definitions which reflect the
Canadian usage of the terms. There is even a definition of "blues"
(unedited verbatim transcripts). The glossary helps to set the words in
context by flagging those words which are similar, often confused, or
synonyms. The presence of a search engine or a breakdown by alphabetical
letter would assist users to locate their word more quickly.
The section entitled Parliamentary Business and Publications is where
most of the publications which previously the user could access only in
print are available. The Senate subsection contains information and
evidence of various Senate Committees, the Journals of the
Senate, and the Debates of the Senate. Impressively, both
the Journals and Debates for the previous week
are posted on the site each Monday. The House of Commons subsection
contains the evidence and minutes of proceedings of various committees,
the Debates of the House of Commons, information about the
Index and Reference Service of the House of Commons, the Parliamentary
Calendar, and the Speech to the Throne from the latest session of
Parliament. Under the Committees, the user will find a document entitled
Introduction to the Committees of the House of Commons which explains the
different types of committees and the procedures which committees must
follow. The Debates are generally available within a week of
the sitting day. Icons used within the online version are explained.
Users can either view the Debates online or the entire day's
debates can be download in a single zip file. The Index and Reference
Service of the House of Commons briefly outlines what the service offers
and how to contact them. For the user wondering about when Parliament
sits, the Parliamentary Calendar section provides the information for the
years 1996 to 2001 inclusive. Details as to how the Parliamentary
Calendar is developed and how a Parliamentary Calendar came into existence
is also available here.
Finally, a browse through the Parliamentary Gopher reveals that
although some of the information on the World Wide Web site is present,
albeit in a somewhat different form, major components such as the
Debates and Journals of both the House of
Commons and the Senate have not been made available here. Although users
who access their information from text-based browsers may go to the World
Wide Web site, they may be frustrated by the nonloading graphics. If all
that is wanted is listings of members of Parliament or general information
about Canada's parliament, it may be advisable to go directly to the
Parliamentary Gopher gopher://gopher.parl.gc.ca.
Finally, a browse through the Parliamentary Gopher yields much of the
same information as on the World Wide Web site. The information in this
section of the site is updated regularly. The user accessing the site
with a text based browser may find it easier to reach it by using the URL
of the Parliamentary Gopher directly gopher://gopher.parl.gc.ca.
Although this route will result in the text accompanying the graphic files
to be missed, it may lessen the frustration for the novice Internet user
as the nonloading graphics and buttons are avoided.
This site is one to visit often as it contains substantial information.
Rather than a collection of links, this site has documents, directories and
glossaries which will assist anyone wanting to know about Parliament.
Whenever necessary, the source of information has been cited. Each page is
dated so it is easy to tell the currency of the information. The design and
layout of the pages make them easy to read. Even the subtle detail of
non-partisan colours (browns and beiges) for the site adds to its
credibility. The buttons and other graphics are unique and attractive.
One suggestion for improving access to information that resides on the
site is to have a search engine to allow users to search the
Debates and Journals by keyword. This utility
would enhance the ability of librarians, researchers, students, and other
members of the public to ascertain quickly whether or not their topic of
interest has been raised in Parliament recently. The appearance of the
bills will add value to the site as well.
The site has been developing very well over the last few months. It
should be visited often as the developers have demonstrated a commitment
to the quality and progress of the site. The Parliamentary Internet
Parlementaire should be bookmarked by those interested in government in
Canada.
Valerie Footz, "Parliamentary Internet Parlementaire
[Review]", Government Information in Canada/Information
gouvernementale au Canada, Vol. 2, no. 4.5.
<http://www.usask.ca/library/gic/v2n4/footz/footz.html>
[3] R.J. Desramaux of Information Technologies, House
of Commons has written in a previous issue of Government Information in
Canada regarding the background and development of this site.
<http://www.usask.ca/library/gic/v2n2/desramauxe/desramauxe.html>
Notes
[1] May be cited as/On peut citer comme suit:
Valerie Footz
Information Services Coordinator
Access to Justice Network
4-40A, 93 University Campus NW
Edmonton Alberta T6G 2T4
(403) 492-9662
(403) 492-1857 FAX
valerie.footz@ualberta.ca