Parliamentary Debate
From Freepedia
Parliamentary Debate, in the United States of America and Canada is a debate event. It is a common event in college and has recently made it down to within the high school level.
A typical round consists of 4 people, two per team. The round is judged by one to three people and is intended so that anyone who doesn't understand debate can walk on in, sit down, listen and understand what is going on. The debate is modeled after British Parliament, using parliamentary procedure.
On the Affirmative, or Government side, there is the Prime Minister (PM) and the Member of the Government (MG), or Minister of the Crown (MC) and on the Negative or Opposition side, there is the Leader of the Opposition (LO) and the Member of the Opposition (MO).
In the United States, the time of the debate round is around 40 minutes. (However, time does depend on which state and which rules you are trying to follow.) Here is a speech breakdown:
- PM Constructive: 7 Minutes
- LO Constructive: 8 Minutes
- MG Constructive: 8 Minutes
- MO Constructive: 8 Minutes
- LO Rebuttal: 4 Minutes (These two speeches are the "Neg Block")
- PM Rebuttal: 5 Minutes
In Canada, the time of the debate round is normally 32 minutes (8 Minutes total for each speaker), and is generally accepted as the universal round length across Canada by most provincial and national level tournaments. Here is a speech breakdown:
- PM Constructive: 5 Minutes
- MO Constructive: 8 Minutes
- MC Constructive: 8 Minutes
- LO Constructive: 8 Minutes
- PM Rebuttal: 3 Minutes
Points of information are in order during contructive speeches, in all times except the first minute and the last minute (Or in the case of the LO, the first minute and the last 3 minutes, as the LO is expected to finish with summary).
In each round, there are also resolutions given. Teams have 15-20 minutes prior to prepare. The resolutions are of four different kinds: fact, value (see Lincoln-Douglas Debate), policy, and metaphorical. Here are some examples:
- This house would legalize abortion (policy),
- This house believes that less is more,
- This house believes that Socialism is better than Capitalism,
- Why are we so blind to see, that the ones we hurt are you and me?
External links
- National Parliamentary Debate Association United States colleigiate parliamentary debate organization.
- National Parliamentary Debate League United States high school parliamentary debate organization.
