Ontario Legislative Debates - Advanced search page

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The following instructions will allow you to create more complex and accurate searches by restricting your search to specific fields, truncating search terms, using boolean operators and nesting search statements.

By default, search results are displayed in reverse chronological order (most recent speeches first).

Some General Search Rules

All searches are case insensitive - both upper and lower case characters may be used.
Punctuation marks such as the period (.), colon (:), semicolon (;), and comma (,) are ignored during a search unless the phrase containing the punctuation is enclosed in quotation marks.
Certain words (Stopwords) are ignored in a search statement. Click HERE for a list of these words.
To use specially treated characters such as &, |, ^, #, @, $, (, ), in a query, enclose your query in quotation marks ("").
To search for a word or phrase containing quotation marks, enclose the entire phrase in quotation marks and then double the quotation marks around the word or words you want to surround with quotes. For example, "World-Wide Web or ""Web""" searches for the entire phrase World-Wide Web or "Web".

Field searching

Unless you specify a field to search in, you search will apply to the entire Hansard Database.
You can however restrict your search to apply to specific fields by using the following search syntax:

@fieldname (search words)

The following fields are available in the Hansard Search Database

Field Name Example of use

@CONTENTS @CONTENTS (ENVIRONMENT)
finds hansard containing the word "Environment" anywhere in the full text of the day's debates

@HANSARDSESSION @HANSARDSESSION (36:1)
finds debates from the 1^st Session of the 36^th Legislature

@HANSARDDATE Date searches use the following numeric format: yyyymmdd
To find a specific day's Hansard, use the " = " sign. e.g.
@HANSARDDATE (=19941014)
finds debates from October 14, 1994.
(@HANSARDDATE (>=19941030) and @HANSARDDATE (<=19950201))
finds debates that occurred between (and including) October 30, 1994 and February 1, 1995

@HANSARDISSUE When the house sits during the evenings, two issues of the printed Hansard may be produced, one for the morning, the other for the evening. Issues are numbered sequentially from the first day of each session. Morning and evening issues are distinguished and you may search within a specific issue of hansard by using the @HANSARDISSUE tag.
e.g. @HANSARDISSUE (l158)
will find the Issue of Hansard for the morning of the 158th day of the session

@BUSTYPE @BUSTYPE (ORAL QUESTIONS)
finds Debates made during the Oral Questions section of the day's Order of Business
Note: Over the period covered by this database (1985 to present), the names of the orders of business changed. Click HERE for a list of the Orders of Business.
@TOPIC @TOPIC (VEHICLE EMISSION TESTING)
finds debates under the Hansard Topic containing the phrase "Vehicle Emission Testing"

@SPEAKER @SPEAKER (DOE)
finds speeches by a member named Doe
Note:The first time a member speaks on a topic both the member's first name and his or her riding is mentioned, (e.g. Mr. John Smith (Algoma) ), thereafter the honorific and surname alone are used (e.g. Mr. Smith). The first time cabinet ministers speak on a topic, the minister's first name and ministry are mentioned, but not their riding (e.g. Hon. John Smith (Minister of Housing) ), thereafter, the honorifics and surname alone are used (e.g. Hon. Mr. Smith ). Please also note that where two members have the same surname, they are referred to by their first names as well as the honorific (e.g. Ms. Jane Doe and Ms. Alice Doe ) In order to be sure you are searching for all occurrences of a speaker, use the surname alone, without the honorifics.
Click HERE for a list of Members from the 34^th, 35^th, 36^th, 37^th, 38^th, and 39^th Legislatures

Boolean Operators:

The House Hansard Database allows searching with the boolean operators AND, AND NOT and OR.

When constructing a boolean search, use brackets to ensure the appropriate logic is being used.
E.g. (@CONTENTS (ENVIRONMENT OR WATER)) AND (@SPEAKER (SMITH OR DOE)) to find speeches by either Smith or Doe containing either of the words environment or water

The following table describes the Boolean operators used in the Hansard Database:

Operator Example of use

AND @CONTENTS (ENVIRONMENT) AND @SPEAKER (STERLING)
finds Debates by member named Sterling AND containing the word environment

OR @TOPIC (EDUCATION or SCHOOL)
finds debates with either of the words school or education in the Topic

AND NOT @SPEAKER (JONES) and not @BUSTYPE (ORAL QUESTIONS) finds speeches by Jones anywhere in Hansard except in Oral Questions

Truncation

You may truncate words in your search using the star symbol " * "

e.g. environ* will retrieve debates containing environment, environmentally, environics etc.

An additional truncation feature (**) allows searching for different forms of a word e.g. save** will retrieve debates containing save, saved as well as saving, savings

Complex Searches

You can increase the complexity of your search by nesting search statements using brackets "()"

e.g. (((@TOPIC education or school*) and (@SPEAKER SMITH or JONES)) AND @HANSARDDATE (>= 19960123)) and not @BUSTYPE (motions)

Will find speeches by either Smith or Jones under Hansard topics containing either the words education or variations of the word school (e.g. school, schools, schooling) from hansard on or after January 23, 1996 and that did not occur in the Motions section of the day's Order of Business.

Precedence

In complex searches,

terms in parentheses are evaluated before the rest of the query
the AND operator has a higher precedence than OR

Search Results

The search results are presented in reverse chronological order (most recent articles first).

The electronic version of Hansard is provided for information purposes only. The printed version is the official report of debates and proceedings in the Ontario Legislative Assembly and its committees.

Field Name	Example of use
@CONTENTS	@CONTENTS (ENVIRONMENT) finds hansard containing the word "Environment" anywhere in the full text of the day's debates
@HANSARDSESSION	@HANSARDSESSION (36:1) finds debates from the 1^st Session of the 36^th Legislature
@HANSARDDATE	Date searches use the following numeric format: yyyymmdd To find a specific day's Hansard, use the " = " sign. e.g. @HANSARDDATE (=19941014) finds debates from October 14, 1994. (@HANSARDDATE (>=19941030) and @HANSARDDATE (<=19950201)) finds debates that occurred between (and including) October 30, 1994 and February 1, 1995
@HANSARDISSUE	When the house sits during the evenings, two issues of the printed Hansard may be produced, one for the morning, the other for the evening. Issues are numbered sequentially from the first day of each session. Morning and evening issues are distinguished and you may search within a specific issue of hansard by using the @HANSARDISSUE tag. e.g. @HANSARDISSUE (l158) will find the Issue of Hansard for the morning of the 158th day of the session
@BUSTYPE	@BUSTYPE (ORAL QUESTIONS) finds Debates made during the Oral Questions section of the day's Order of Business Note: Over the period covered by this database (1985 to present), the names of the orders of business changed. Click HERE for a list of the Orders of Business.
@TOPIC	@TOPIC (VEHICLE EMISSION TESTING) finds debates under the Hansard Topic containing the phrase "Vehicle Emission Testing"
@SPEAKER	@SPEAKER (DOE) finds speeches by a member named Doe Note:The first time a member speaks on a topic both the member's first name and his or her riding is mentioned, (e.g. Mr. John Smith (Algoma) ), thereafter the honorific and surname alone are used (e.g. Mr. Smith). The first time cabinet ministers speak on a topic, the minister's first name and ministry are mentioned, but not their riding (e.g. Hon. John Smith (Minister of Housing) ), thereafter, the honorifics and surname alone are used (e.g. Hon. Mr. Smith ). Please also note that where two members have the same surname, they are referred to by their first names as well as the honorific (e.g. Ms. Jane Doe and Ms. Alice Doe ) In order to be sure you are searching for all occurrences of a speaker, use the surname alone, without the honorifics. Click HERE for a list of Members from the 34^th, 35^th, 36^th, 37^th, 38^th, and 39^th Legislatures

Operator	Example of use
AND	@CONTENTS (ENVIRONMENT) AND @SPEAKER (STERLING) finds Debates by member named Sterling AND containing the word environment
OR	@TOPIC (EDUCATION or SCHOOL) finds debates with either of the words school or education in the Topic
AND NOT	@SPEAKER (JONES) and not @BUSTYPE (ORAL QUESTIONS) finds speeches by Jones anywhere in Hansard except in Oral Questions