[1][2][3] There are generally two types of adjournment debate: those proposed by the government, which are used from time to time to permit general debates on topical subjects (e.g. flooding and coastal defenses, regional affairs or International Women's Day); and the half-hour adjournment at the end of each day's sitting.
[1] The half-hour adjournment is an opportunity for a backbench Member of Parliament to raise a subject of their choosing, of which advance notice has been given, with the appropriate government minister.
On rare occasions, however, where the debate concerns a matter on which there are strong differences of opinion (such as the prospect of going to war), backbench members may engineer a vote.
It was a vote on a motion for the adjournment which brought down British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government during World War II – the so-called Norway Debate.
[4] In the House of Commons of Canada, coming as it does at the end of the sitting day, the adjournment debate is colloquially known as the "late show.