How we rank bills

Every bill is shown on four plain steps:

• Proposed
• Being debated
• Almost law
• Law

While a committee is studying a bill, the second step reads “Being studied” instead of “Being debated”. A bill is Proposed from its introduction until it is first debated. “Almost law” means the elected House of Commons has passed it: the Senate has it, or both chambers have passed it and it is waiting for royal assent. A bill that started in the Senate stays at “Being debated” (or “Being studied”) until the House of Commons passes it.

Bills that were voted down or dropped are shown off the scale with a red label, as are bills that died when a session ended. Bills from individual MPs that have not yet had their turn for debate (MPs' turns are set by a draw) are shown as Proposed, “waiting its turn”. The exact official stage from LEGISinfo, Parliament's bill tracker, is shown when you hover over or tap the highlighted step, and it is always on the bill's own page.

This section uses only records of what Parliament did, never our own picks. Only government bills that are still in progress can appear.

A bill qualifies if, in the last 10 days the House of Commons sat (sitting days, not calendar days, so a break week doesn't empty it), it completed a stage, had a vote, was on the agenda of the House or the Senate on at least one day, or was debated in the House.

Each qualifying bill gets points for that same period:

• 100 points if it completed a stage or had a vote (once, however many)
• 1 point for each statement made in House debates on the bill, including debates on motions about how the bill is handled
• 10 points for each other House debate that mentions it, such as Question Period or members' statements (per debate, not per mention)
• 150 points, once, if the government limited debate on it (a time allocation motion, a closure motion, or a motion setting how the bill proceeds)
• 20 points for each day it was on the agenda of the House or the Senate, as Parliament's bill tracker records it