The Cloture or Closure rule is one that allows a body to end debate on a specific issue if a certain threshold of the membership of that body consents to a motion to invoke the cloture rule. The rule is often criticized as undemocratic.
In the USA this only applies to the Senate, the House of Representatives' debates are limited anyway. The Senate can stop debate by calling a vote, on which three-fifths of the entire Senate is required to agree to limit the Senator. This threshold is significant because it means that a bill which has a slim majority can be subject to filibuster or death through debate. This in turn is relevant because no one party in modern times has had more than the three-fifths threshold, and therefore a united minority party can block a bill that it very much does not wish to pass.
The cloture rule was first formulated in the 1960's to stop filibusters on civil rights legislation.
In Canada cloture can be used but a more commonly used tactic is time allocation.