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First, a (very brief, I promise) bit of background on private members’ bills and motions: Unlike most other House business, it proceeds down an entirely separate procedural track, one over which the government, crucially, has virtually no control.

The daily one-hour slots reserved for presenting such proposals are allocated through a lottery that takes place at the beginning of a new Parliament, and the slots are assigned by rotation through a priority list, otherwise known as the order of precedence.

MPs do have to keep within certain broad parameters – nothing obviously unconstitutional, or a re-do of a question already taken up by the House, and if it could cost money to implement, a minister has to sign on as sponsor – but beyond that, the sky’s the limit, really.

Some MPs actually draft legislation – which could be anything from tightening the rules on impaired driving to changing the lyrics of the national anthem – while others take a different approach, and instead write up a motion that would, if adopted, have the House express a certain sentiment.

In most cases, private members’ motions are non-binding, but in some cases – like M-103 – upon passage, they become an order of the House – in this case, to instruct a committee to look into a particular issue, and report back within a certain time frame.

Both bills and motions undergo at least one hour – and usually two – of House debate before being put to a vote – which, for a motion, is the final stage, at which point it is either adopted or defeated. (Bills that survive second reading are sent to committee and on through the standard legislative process, although once again on a separate timeline.)