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Guide for New Congressmen

Town Crier: “HEAR YE! HEAR YE! The Honorable Speaker of the Congress of eCanada approaches to make an important announcement!”

Hello Congressmen New and Old alike. I am Vincent Chaotic, acting speaker of the Congress of eCanada, as you may have guessed by my tri-corner hat, black robes, and flowing 1880s white wig. Welcome to Orientation Day on the House of Commons. First order of business is Augustus Baldwin, he thinks he has the power to strangle us. Truth is, he doesn’t, but if he ever realized this, he would kill us with his flamethrower. Thus to keep us safe, we will all pretend to get strangled. Former Congressman Unthak will help me demonstrate: Gasping for air, grabs throat, eyes back and he’s down! Good show Unthak! Now, two assistants will recover the “Body” redress him, add a moustache, and he’s back to work as Unthak Jones! This way Augustus gets the pleasure of killing someone, while we stay amongst the living. Why, Cesar Augustus over there has been “strangled,” over 30 times, haven’t you Cesar?

Now on to serious matters. You’ve just been elected to Congress, you’re feeling good about yourself, you want to please your constituents as soon as possible to show them you’re worth their vote, so you decide to drop a few taxes right?

NO!
STOP RIGHT THERE!

Before you do ANYTHING, make sure to sign up on the eCanadian Forums:
http://ecanada.forumotion.com/ If you don’t I will send President Bruck to beat you with the Executive Branch.

Contact John Wilkmot, Bruck, or Tom Hagen about masking you as a Congressman, and then you’re almost ready to roll.

STEP ONE
- Read the Congress Guidelines, these are rules and regulations set out by Congress and the Constitution about how business is to be conducted within the House of Commons. The rules are as follows:

All congressmen are required to follow this procedure when proposing laws:

1. Discussion
i) Propose the law in "Congress Discussion" and let congress discuss for a minimum of 1 day (24 hours)
ii) Total length of discussion is at the discretion of the Speaker of Congress.
2. Vote
i) The proposal is then made in-game by the Speaker of Congress until he/she exhausts his/her two proposals. Then the speaker chooses a congressman to propose the law.
ii) The proposal becomes law if over 50% of the vote is in favour
iii) The "debate area" must link back to the original discussion on these forums.
iv) If the proposal does not have an in-game equivalent, it is sent to the "Congress Voting Hall" to be voted on for 1 day (24 hours)
3. Exceptions
i) Emergency vote by the Prime Minister via executive order are proposed directly in-game
ii) MPPs proposed by other nations' presidents are made directly in-game


If these guidelines are not explicitly adhered to, all congressmen are required to vote "no". Deliberate failure to follow procedure with the aim to undermine the eCanadian government may result in prosecution at the Supreme Court.


So, to put it simply, you don’t just throw up a tax change, or a print cad, or transfer Gold order on a whim. First you post your proposal in the correct sub forum in the Congress section, give it 24 Hours to debate, then you can propose it.

STEP TWO: Get your bearings

There’s a lot of stuff going on in congress at any given time, and discussions can be found in either the Open Door Congress, or the Closed Door Congress. Open door is viewable to the public, and thus that is where any tax discussions, social policy debates, etc will be held for all the public to see. Closed Door Congress is reserved for certain matters of national security, such as treaties with foreign nations, military funding issues, and counter T.O. operations. These are held behind closed doors so that no Hungarians can wander in and see what the CAF will do next.

STEP THREE: Forum Voting
Within each congress section, there is an area for voting. So this is where we get to shout out our votes as loudly and obnoxiously as possible right? WRONG! Forum votes are done by secret ballot, meaning no one posts in them. (unless it is an informal voice-vote) The Speaker of Congress will post the vote in a poll, which congressmen will have 24 or more hours to vote in. If anyone aside from the Speaker or his Deputy is caught posting anything in these forums without the consent of the Speaker, General Coda will beat you with the Chain O Command.

STEP FOUR: Declaring your bias
No, we don’t need to know that you once egged Jack Layton or peed on Stephen Harper’s rose bushes, or that you feel uncomfortable around purple people. (They’re the worst, all prejudiced and Birthmarky!) A thread has been issued here: http://ecanada.forumotion.com/open-door-congress-f32/congressional-disclosure-t2166.htm?sid=543ecf6c485cd19ccfa4fe722cdc2d00 in the Congressional Disclosure thread. It’s here that you must declare any companies, organizations, or affiliations which may influence your congressional conduct. For example, I will declare the SCOTIA Organization within this thread. It is not a crime to own a company and be in congress, but the public needs to know what you have, to ensure you’re not funnelling all that Health Care CAD into your company/ organization/ mattress.

STEP FIVE: Personal Conduct
Everyone in Congress is expected to remain on their best behaviour in the house. So no calling your ex-girlfriend who crossed the floor a dog, no barking at Augustus to shut up, and above all else, no momma jokes. You are here to represent your constituents, so act accordingly. Avoid the following:

Personal Insults
Threats
Shouting and/or Aggressive Behaviour
Excessive Swearing (As Determined by the Speaker of Congress)

Punishment will be doled out by the speaker in the following ways:

(i). Isolated Incident
(a). Written Public Warning
(b). Temporary Removal of Voting Rights (Duration to be determined by Speaker of Congress)
(c). Temporary Removal of Discussion Rights (Duration to be determined by Speaker of Congress)

(ii). Repeated Violations
(a). Permanent Removal of Voting Rights
(b). Suspension from Congress (Duration to be determined by Speaker of Congress)
(c). Removal from Congress

Let it be known that if I catch anyone making threats against other congressmen, such as the ones which forced Cleomynestra Cathak to leave the game, I will dispatch Social Services Minister Emilio Sanchez to beat you with the Board of Education.

So those are the basics to Congress. Serve well, keep an eye on the discussions, and an ear to your constituents. See you in the House!

- Vincent Chaotic
Acting Speaker of Congress.