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When MPs vote in the House of Commons, the result is published verbatim in Hansard — the official record. Every yea, every nay, every paired and absent member, name by name. This article walks how to find a specific vote, how to read what the record says, and how to use it to check what your MP actually did versus what they say they did.
Every recorded division in the House of Commons is published on the official record — Hansard for the debate, and the LEGISinfo + ourcommons.ca portals for the vote tallies. This article teaches readers how to navigate those records: how to find a specific vote, how to identify each MP's position, how to interpret "paired" and "absent" labels, and how to cross-reference a vote against the MP's prior public statements. The skill is the foundation of accountability journalism — and any citizen can do it.
Two starting points depending on what you want to find.
**If you have a bill number** (e.g., Bill C-22, Bill C-11, etc.): 1. Go to **parl.ca/legisinfo** 2. Search by bill code 3. Open the bill's LEGISinfo page 4. Look for the "Status" or "House Vote History" section. Every recorded division on the bill — second reading, report stage, third reading, the lot — is listed by date and division number. 5. Click any division number to open the full vote record on ourcommons.ca.
**If you have a date or a topic but not a bill number:** 1. Go to **ourcommons.ca/Members/en/votes** 2. Filter by Parliament + Session (current is 45-1 for this Parliament) 3. Browse the list. Each entry shows the date, the division number, a subject line, and the result (Agreed To / Negatived). 4. Click any entry to open the full record.
A recorded division page shows you four lists of members:
- **Yeas** — voted in favour of the motion. - **Nays** — voted against the motion. - **Paired** — a member who would have voted but is deliberately absent under a pairing arrangement, so the vote balance is unaffected. (Pairing is an old parliamentary convention: an MP who has to be away pairs with an opposite-side MP who agrees to also be absent.) - **Absent** — a member who didn't vote and isn't paired.
Each name is listed under the appropriate column. You can scan for your own MP, or sort by party, or look at the count totals at the top of the page.
The page also shows the FINAL TALLY (e.g., "Yeas: 186 Nays: 137") and the result ("Agreed To" or "Negatived").
The accountability move is to compare the vote to what the MP has said. Two useful checks:
**Hansard for the same date.** Go to ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/house, find the day of the vote, and read the debate that preceded it. MPs often speak before voting. If an MP gave a speech opposing the bill and then voted yes, that's a story worth understanding.
**The MP's own communications.** Press releases, X posts, Bluesky posts, riding-office newsletters. If an MP's public position diverges from their recorded vote, that's also a story.
Neither check requires any special access. Both Hansard and MP public statements are free to access.
Not every House of Commons decision is a recorded division. Most procedural decisions, second-reading agreements on uncontested government bills, and routine motions are decided on **voice vote** — the Speaker asks "Is the House ready for the question? All in favour, signify by saying yea. All opposed, nay." If there's no demand for a recorded vote, the result is entered as "On division" or "agreed to" without name-by-name data.
A recorded division happens when at least five members rise to demand one, or when the rules require one (e.g., on certain budget motions). This is why some bills have many recorded votes (Bill C-22 had a dozen at report stage) while others pass with almost none on the record.
For recorded divisions, the data is exhaustive. For voice votes, you have only the high-level outcome and no member-by-member detail.
The skill is foundational, but it's not an end in itself. What civic engagement looks like once you have the record:
- **Verify before sharing.** If a social media claim says "your MP voted against X," check the actual division. The portal is fast. - **Write to your MP with specifics.** Citing a specific division number and date is materially more effective than a generic complaint. - **Build a personal accountability log.** Track the votes that matter to you over a Parliament. Most MP communications offer aspirational positioning; the recorded division shows what was actually done. - **Refer journalists.** If you spot a meaningful gap between what an MP said and what they voted, that's the lead a reporter needs.
Parliament Audit does exactly this work at scale. The same primary sources are open to every Canadian.
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About this article
Parliament Audit is non-partisan and does not endorse or oppose any legislation. This article is based on publicly available legislative documents and parliamentary records; all sources are linked above.
AI-assisted, human-edited. AI tools help us ingest parliamentary records and draft analysis; an editor reviews every article and verifies key facts against primary sources before publication. Quotation marks are reserved for verbatim text from a primary source. See our methodology and corrections log.
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<article>
<h1>How to Read a Recorded Division in Hansard. The Civic Skill Every Canadian Should Have.</h1>
<p><em>By Parliament Audit · June 3, 2026 · 4 min read</em></p>
<p><strong>Every recorded division in the House of Commons is published on the official record — Hansard for the debate, and the LEGISinfo + ourcommons.ca portals for the vote tallies. This article teaches readers how to navigate those records: how to find a specific vote, how to identify each MP's position, how to interpret "paired" and "absent" labels, and how to cross-reference a vote against the MP's prior public statements. The skill is the foundation of accountability journalism — and any citizen can do it.</strong></p>
<h2>Find the vote</h2>
<p>Two starting points depending on what you want to find.</p>
<p>**If you have a bill number** (e.g., Bill C-22, Bill C-11, etc.):
1. Go to **parl.ca/legisinfo**
2. Search by bill code
3. Open the bill's LEGISinfo page
4. Look for the "Status" or "House Vote History" section. Every recorded division on the bill — second reading, report stage, third reading, the lot — is listed by date and division number.
5. Click any division number to open the full vote record on ourcommons.ca.</p>
<p>**If you have a date or a topic but not a bill number:**
1. Go to **ourcommons.ca/Members/en/votes**
2. Filter by Parliament + Session (current is 45-1 for this Parliament)
3. Browse the list. Each entry shows the date, the division number, a subject line, and the result (Agreed To / Negatived).
4. Click any entry to open the full record.</p>
<h2>Read the record</h2>
<p>A recorded division page shows you four lists of members:</p>
<p>- **Yeas** — voted in favour of the motion.
- **Nays** — voted against the motion.
- **Paired** — a member who would have voted but is deliberately absent under a pairing arrangement, so the vote balance is unaffected. (Pairing is an old parliamentary convention: an MP who has to be away pairs with an opposite-side MP who agrees to also be absent.)
- **Absent** — a member who didn't vote and isn't paired.</p>
<p>Each name is listed under the appropriate column. You can scan for your own MP, or sort by party, or look at the count totals at the top of the page.</p>
<p>The page also shows the FINAL TALLY (e.g., "Yeas: 186 Nays: 137") and the result ("Agreed To" or "Negatived").</p>
<h2>Cross-reference against statements</h2>
<p>The accountability move is to compare the vote to what the MP has said. Two useful checks:</p>
<p>**Hansard for the same date.** Go to ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/house, find the day of the vote, and read the debate that preceded it. MPs often speak before voting. If an MP gave a speech opposing the bill and then voted yes, that's a story worth understanding.</p>
<p>**The MP's own communications.** Press releases, X posts, Bluesky posts, riding-office newsletters. If an MP's public position diverges from their recorded vote, that's also a story.</p>
<p>Neither check requires any special access. Both Hansard and MP public statements are free to access.</p>
<h2>What "recorded" means and what gets excluded</h2>
<p>Not every House of Commons decision is a recorded division. Most procedural decisions, second-reading agreements on uncontested government bills, and routine motions are decided on **voice vote** — the Speaker asks "Is the House ready for the question? All in favour, signify by saying yea. All opposed, nay." If there's no demand for a recorded vote, the result is entered as "On division" or "agreed to" without name-by-name data.</p>
<p>A recorded division happens when at least five members rise to demand one, or when the rules require one (e.g., on certain budget motions). This is why some bills have many recorded votes (Bill C-22 had a dozen at report stage) while others pass with almost none on the record.</p>
<p>For recorded divisions, the data is exhaustive. For voice votes, you have only the high-level outcome and no member-by-member detail.</p>
<h2>Once you have the record — what to do with it</h2>
<p>The skill is foundational, but it's not an end in itself. What civic engagement looks like once you have the record:</p>
<p>- **Verify before sharing.** If a social media claim says "your MP voted against X," check the actual division. The portal is fast.
- **Write to your MP with specifics.** Citing a specific division number and date is materially more effective than a generic complaint.
- **Build a personal accountability log.** Track the votes that matter to you over a Parliament. Most MP communications offer aspirational positioning; the recorded division shows what was actually done.
- **Refer journalists.** If you spot a meaningful gap between what an MP said and what they voted, that's the lead a reporter needs.</p>
<p>Parliament Audit does exactly this work at scale. The same primary sources are open to every Canadian.</p>
<hr />
<p><small>
Originally published by <a href="https://parliamentaudit.ca/news/how-to-read-a-recorded-division-in-hansard">Parliament Audit</a>
under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND 4.0</a> license.
<img src="https://parliamentaudit.ca/api/republish-beacon?slug=how-to-read-a-recorded-division-in-hansard" alt="" width="1" height="1" />
</small></p>
</article>