How many readings must a bill go through in the House of Commons before it can become law?

Discover Canada sets out the legislative process step by step under the heading "How a bill becomes law — The Legislative Process." The guide names three readings of a bill in the House of Commons:

• STEP 1 — First Reading: "The bill is considered read for the first time and is printed."
• STEP 2 — Second Reading: "Members debate the bill's principle."
• STEP 5 — Third Reading: "Members debate and vote on the bill."

Two more steps sit between the Second and the Third Reading. Discover Canada describes them as STEP 3 — Committee Stage: "Committee members study the bill clause by clause," and STEP 4 — Report Stage: "Members can make other amendments." So the three readings are framed by detailed committee work in the middle. The number of readings remains three.

After third reading the bill leaves the House of Commons but is not yet law. Discover Canada's STEP 6 is "Senate — The bill follows a similar process in the Senate," meaning a similar three-readings-plus-committee process plays out in the appointed chamber. STEP 7 is "Royal Assent — The bill receives royal assent after being passed by both Houses."

The whole sequence is summarised in another part of the guide: No bill can become law in Canada until it has been passed by both chambers and has received royal assent, granted by the Governor General on behalf of the Sovereign. So three readings in the House of Commons is a necessary part of that journey, but only the first half of the picture.

The question is testing whether new citizens have noticed Discover Canada's explicit numbering of the readings. The guide labels them as STEP 1 (First Reading), STEP 2 (Second Reading) and STEP 5 (Third Reading) — three named readings in the House of Commons.

The wrong answer choices each pick a different number. Discover Canada's legislative-process diagram never names a one-reading, two-reading, or four-reading process. The figure is firmly three.