Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes his way to the House of Commons for question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 13, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

With just five days left on the clock for the spring House sitting — and that’s only if there’s no cross-aisle deal to shut down ahead of schedule — it’s a good bet that, barring any major last-minute plot twists, only a few more bills will make it into the queue for royal assent before the summer recess gets underway.

[Read More: Process Nerd: Unofficial list of bills that have to pass before summer recess]

As of today, there are just two government bills waiting to be signed into law — C-66, which would formally expunge “historically unjust” convictions related to consensual same-sex activities, and C-74, which is the first phase of Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s latest budget implementation plan — as well as two private members’ initiatives: Conservative MP Todd Doherty’s bid to set up a federal framework on post-traumatic stress disorder, and Liberal MP Sven Spengemann’s pitch to establish a cross-country Gender Equality Week.

That list will almost certainly get longer before the Commons rises later this week — presuming, that is, that the two chambers can avoid protracted standoffs over the government’s pot legalization plan and its “companion” bill to update the impaired driving laws to cover cannabis, both of which are currently in limbo as the House considers the Senate’s proposed amendments.

The government has already indicated that it’s fine with the minor technical tweaks that the Upper House has made to to its bid to force political parties to provide more detailed information on fundraising events, which means that it will be added to the stack as soon as the Commons formally endorses the amended version.

There are also two Senate bills at third reading in the House: Sen. Mobina Jaffer’s proposal to strike the phrase “barbaric cultural practices” from the statutes and laws in which it now appears, which was reported back by committee without amendment, and could get the final nod later this week, and Sen. Nancy Greene Raine’s bid to ban youth-targeted food and drink marketing, which also has to go back to the Senate for re-approval after undergoing a minor rewrite at committee.

On the Senate side — where, it’s worth noting, the sitting is scheduled to continue until June 29th — the Upper House may well wrap up its work on a long-pending change to the ministerial salary rules to ensure equal compensation for new cabinet positions created under this government.

There’s even a chance — although admittedly a small one, given the timeline — that the Senate will finish up its work on the Liberals’ proposed new anti-harassment provisions for federally regulated workplaces, which could hit third reading as early as Tuesday, although since it, too, has been amended, it would have to make it back to the House before Friday to get the green light to be put up for royal assent before the recess.

But even if all of the above legislation makes it to the finish line before the summer hiatus, that would still leave a long list of unfinished business on the Order Paper.

At the moment, that includes over 30 government bills — including, among others, the omnibus “modernization” of Canada’s election laws, the overhaul of the national security regime and tightening the laws on gun sales and licencing — as well as dozens of initiatives originating from the House and Senate backbenches.

So, what happens to all those bills and motions?

Well, it depends on whether the prime minister decides to kick off the final fall sitting before the next federal election by launching a fresh session.

Yes, that would mean proroguing Parliament, although it’s difficult to imagine how such a move could be framed as remotely controversial, considering the current session recently passed the 300 day mark, and is now the fourth-longest in Canadian parliamentary history.

Leaving aside the inevitable bickering over whether doing so would break yet another Team Trudeau campaign pledge (no, as they never promised to forego the power entirely, but only not to abuse it), it would result in everything still on the order paper being left to die.

When it comes to parliamentary procedure, however, death is not always a one-way trip.

As soon as the new session gets underway, the government can bring forward motions to revive any — or all — pending legislation from the previous go-round, which can be re-instated at whatever House stage it had reached at the time of prorogation.

The resurrection process is — as is so often the case — a little more complicated in the Senate, which has no formal process for reinstatement, which means all pending legislation would have to go back to the starting line, although the Senate could then agree to fast-track it through the preceding stages.

As for private members’ business, under House rules, it is automatically reinstated at the last completed stage from the previous session, although that only covers the Commons.

Private members’ bills that have made it to the Upper House are effectively wiped off the list, although those, too, can be reintroduced, although the Senate is notoriously glacial in dealing with such proposals, as there is no formal system for considering House backbench bills.

Of course, all that only comes into play following a prorogation.

If, on the other hand, he were to call a snap election — which he almost certainly won’t, but let’s just pretend for a minute — it would be an immediate death sentence for every outstanding item on both the House and Senate order papers, although there would be nothing stopping the government — new or incumbent — from introducing identical legislation in the new parliament.

Finally, if the prime minister decides not to pull the plug — no surprise writ drop, no Throne Speech, just back to business as usual — the session picks up exactly where it left off, which, in some cases, can even mean giving an MP the floor to finish up a speech that he or she started before the summer recess.