1998/99
3rd Session
36th Parliament

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

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Guide for Users of the Hansard Index

The Hansard index provides page references to the official record of debates of the Legislative Assembly. Entries fall into one of three categories: subject, speaker or House business. Subject headings reflect the topics discussed by members; speaker headings begin with the member's name and are followed by the subjects spoken on by that member; and House business headings represent the routine and other business of the Legislative Assembly (see list below). Entries under speakers' names may be less detailed than entries under subject headings. We may group similar topics under a general heading, using words like "issues" or "operations." For a more extensive breakdown of a member's debate on a topic, see the main subject heading.

The introduction of guests and visitors is not indexed. However, Hansard for the 35th and 36th Parliaments, as well as the indexes, are searchable on-line at the Hansard web site (http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/hansard/search). The indexes themselves can be viewed at http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/hansard, where the page references within the indexes are linked to the Hansard text.

CROSS-REFERENCES

See directs the user to the subject heading under which entries will be found in this index. Example:: Drinking and driving See Impaired driving

To refer to a different term under the same main heading, we may use "above" or "below." Example:: Forest industry
Value-added industry See Remanufacturing industry above
See also directs the user to related subjects or definitive headings. Examples:: Assessment Appeal Board See also Property assessment appeal board under Real property tax
Schools See also Education
Taxation See also particular taxes, e.g., Income tax

HOUSE BUSINESS

House business entries include:: Address from the Bar of the House
Bills, Legislative
Budget
Divisions, Recorded
Ministerial statements
Motions
Oral questions
Petitions
Proclamations
Private members' statements
Privilege
Prorogation
Quorum called (under the main heading Legislature)
Rulings and statements by Chair or Speaker
Speech from the Throne (includes Address in reply)

All bills introduced during the session are listed in numerical order under the main heading Bills, Legislative, as well as in a separate alphabetical list near the front of the index.

Budget estimates are listed according to the name of the ministry, legislative officer (e.g., Auditor general) or agency (e.g., Elections B.C.).

FILING SEQUENCE

The basic filing sequence used in this index is alphabetical, word by word. Punctuation is ignored in filing.

Mc is filed as if it were spelled Mac. Abbreviations and acronyms used in this index are filed as follows:

	AIDS	Aids
	B.C. or BC	British Columbia
	MLAs	Members of the Legislative Assembly
	Mt.	Mount
	NDP	New Democratic Party
	St.	Saint

Numbers are filed numerically in ascending order when they denote highway, school district or tree farm licence numbers, and as if written out when they are part of a name. Examples:: Highway 1
Highway 17
Highway 19; British Columbia Treaty Commission
B.C. 21 program
British Columbia Utilities Commission; NDP government
911 emergency telephone system
North Okanagan regional health board

Abbreviations used in the procedural entries for bills are the following:

	Amdts:	Amendments
	sec.	section
	1R	First reading
	2R	Second reading
	C	Committee stage
	3R	Third reading
	RA	Royal assent


Some of the main subject headings have changed or are new this session.: Ferries and ferry services
Post-secondary education (formerly a subheading under Education)
Public debt (formerly Debt, Public)
Railways and rail services
Rulings and statements by Chair or Speaker (formerly in two places: Chair and Deputy Chair, Rulings and statements; and Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Rulings and statements)

Hansard debates reflect the business of the province; users may therefore assume that entries are about British Columbia unless otherwise indicated. References concerning federal/national matters or other jurisdictions will be specified as such. "Liberal Party" refers to the B.C. Liberal Party.

Because of intrasessional changes in cabinet responsibilities during this parliament, portfolio names are not included with ministers' names in main headings. "Hon." does not appear before members' names in subheadings.

"Quoted" and "cited" items are no longer indexed. The more substantive instances of this kind have been replaced with "comments on."S

If users are interested in matters of legislative procedure, these main headings will be of interest:: Divisions, Recorded
Legislature
Motions
Privilege
Rulings and statements by Chair or Speaker

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