Just launched a test version of a new alerts system. Check it out. (Though I should warn you that it's a test, and it may change or disappear.)

Email alerts were one of the things I thought were necessary to launch this site—which is now, at 2.5 years, well into its toddler years. Actually, I built the signup page before launching the site, but I wasn't sure people would actually sign up. When lots did, I scrambled to finish the actual email-sending code before Hansard was published.

But till now, email alerts were restricted to everything a given MP said. The new system lets you get alerts for any given search query—every time someone says climate change in the Environment committee, every bill that mentions the CBC, all that talk about carbon taxes, and so on.

To get started, sign up. Then you should start seeing Create an alert buttons on search pages.

The House of Commons is on summer break, and doesn't meet again until September 17.

Wednesday and Thursday—though, according to Parliamentary convention, it was just an exceptionally long Wednesday—Parliament didn't get much sleep. The opposition parties forced a long series of votes on Bill C-38, the omnibus budget bill that opponents say forces through hundreds of major changes unrelated to the budget.

The full transcripts have just been released, and I've updated this site with all votes. If you're interested in seeing who's best at timing their bathroom breaks, here's the league table of how many votes MPs missed during the marathon.

Two big, long-in-the-making additions to this site today. Whee!

The first is the addition of House committees and their transcripts. Committees can be really interesting. Even though this current Parliament certainly doesn't mark their heyday, they're still the most productive part of the House. There's way less theatre and name-calling than in debates—and, unlike in the House chamber, nobody's ever speaking to a vast empty room. And since they revolve around external witnesses, you can hear some surprising perspectives that go beyond the familiar party talking points.

Adding committees about doubled the amount of data we have, so I figured the search engine needed a bit of a facelift to deal with it. I ended up doing full reconstructive surgery. The new search does quite a bit more than its predecessor. It's not easy designing a search interface to be powerful and information-dense without also being complicated and overwhelming, and so feedback and suggestions are very welcome. And please tell me if anything doesn't work: it's a complex piece of software, and there are likely bugs.

At sixty-eight o'clock and after 445,000 words, last week's marathon House sitting ended with the passage of back-to-work legislation for postal workers.

The House is now on summer break, and starts back up again on September 19th.

As I type this, it's a rainy Saturday morning in Montreal. But on Parliament Hill, it's still Thursday.

The NDP is holding a filibuster to delay back-to-work legislation to end the postal lockout. Because the Conservatives can force a vote before Thursday's sitting ends, the NDP aren't letting it end. So, according to the official House transcripts, it is currently 58 o'clock on Thursday.

Parliament's hardworking transcribers and translators have published debates through yesterday morning so far. As they publish more, I'll update the debates on this site. But the "latest House transcript" date above will remain June 23rd. Because in Ottawa, it looks like it's gonna be June 23rd for a long time.

Station:London. AQI: 38. Reason: Ozone (O3). Category: Moderate.

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Station:Hamilton Downtown. AQI: 35. Reason: Ozone (O3). Category: Moderate.

Station:Hamilton Mountain. AQI: 38. Reason: Ozone (O3). Category: Moderate.