Author: revparlc

Limiting the Government’s Power to Prorogue Parliament

This entry is part 4 of 12 in the series Vol 33 No 2 (Summer)

Limiting the Government’s Power to Prorogue Parliament

Many people feel that Prime Minister Harper’s second minority government abused its power to prorogue Parliament in order to shut down embarrassing activities. The prorogation of December 4, 2008 circumvented a vote of censure scheduled for the following week that might have led to a coalition government taking power. The prorogation of December 30, 2009 dissolved the parliamentary committees. One of these committees was hounding the government about the fate of Afghans taken prisoner by the Canadian military. After the second prorogation, the opposition parties in the Commons suggested limiting the government’s powers of prorogation to prevent future abuses. This article explores how the power to prorogue Parliament could be circumscribed—it would still exist, but with limits on its frequency and the circumstances surrounding its use.

British and Canadian Experience with the Royal Prerogative

This entry is part 5 of 12 in the series Vol 33 No 2 (Summer)

British and Canadian Experience with the Royal Prerogative

This article looks at the Royal prerogative to prorogue Parliament. It, first, looks at the British experience and places the personal prerogatives that govern Parliament in their historical context and, within that context, identifies the legislative precedents for Parliament placing limits on these prerogatives. Second, it looks at the Canadian experience, where prime ministers have deviated from their British colleagues in being adversarial with the head of state over the use of these powers. It suggests that the difference in political behaviour is the result of a combination of temporal, cultural and political factors, which have also resulted in the Canadian Parliament being disinclined to legislate remedies in the manner the British Parliament did when these powers were abused by the Crown centuries years ago.

The 40th Parliament of Canada was summoned by Governor General Michaëlle Jean for November 18, 2008. Just two weeks after she opened the first session, facing imminent defeat on a motion of non-confidence, the Prime Minister asked that she prorogue Parliament. This request was granted and defeat on a motion of non-confidence was avoided.

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A Dialogue on Youth and Democracy

This entry is part 6 of 12 in the series Vol 33 No 2 (Summer)

A Dialogue on Youth and Democracy

Voter turnout among the general population in Canadian federal elections has declined over the past twenty years. This problem is particularly acute among young people. Recognizing the need to more effectively address this issue at the federal level, several federal entities responsible for youth programmes including the Department of Canadian Heritage, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Department of Justice, Elections Canada, the Governor General’s Office, the Library of Parliament, and the National Capital Commission, began discussing opportunities for greater collaboration on the topic of youth civic and democratic engagement. On September 25, 2009 the Library of Parliament invited leading figures from these federal entities, and from the private and nongovernmental sectors to participate in a day-long session on the topic of youth civic and democratic participation. This article looks at some of the themes that emerged from the workshop as well as the recommendations.

Why Youth do not Vote?

This entry is part 7 of 12 in the series Vol 33 No 2 (Summer)

Why Youth do not Vote?

Since the 1970s scholars estimate that youth turnout is twenty per cent lower than turnout amongst baby boomers born between 1945 and 1950. Kids these days are not forming the habits that their parents did. They are not becoming civically engaged once they become eligible to vote and they are not voting or even moving towards voting as they grow older. This article looks at a project by the British Columbia Legislative Interns to address the problem of voter turnout among youth.

Awaiting the Watershed: Women in Canada’s Parliament

This entry is part 8 of 12 in the series Vol 33 No 2 (Summer)

Awaiting the Watershed: Women in Canada’s Parliament

The Canadian House of Commons in 2009 included sixty-nine female Members of Parliament, (roughly 22% of the seats). Canada is ranked next to Mauritania in 48th place for the number of women in its national assembly in a Inter-Parliamentary Union study. Some countries have proven that states can raise the number of female legislators virtually overnight. This process of rapidly increasing female representation in only one election has been described as a “watershed”. This paper will discuss the possibility of implementing viable policies to create a gender watershed in Canada. It discusses the philosophical and ethical questions related to women’s representation, explores various determinants of women’s election to office as put forward in the literature, and finally argues that if certain conditions hold a gender watershed is possible in Canada.

A watershed will almost certainly come in the form of a gender quota, which still raises ethical issues in Canada. For this reason, it is necessary to explore the issue of women’s representation more broadly going back to the writings of one of the most influential thinkers about parliamentary government.

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Funding the Officers of Parliament: Canada’s Experiment

This entry is part 9 of 12 in the series Vol 33 No 2 (Summer)

Funding the Officers of Parliament: Canada’s Experiment

The House of Commons Advisory Panel on the Funding and Oversight of Officers of Parliament was established in the fall of 2005 as a two-year pilot project that, more recently, has continued on an ad hoc basis. Centrally, it provides the Treasury Board with recommendations from Parliament concerning the budget requests of officers of Parliament. The expectation was that this could make Parliament the de facto decision-maker about officers of Parliament budgets, and free the officers from concerns about budgetary retribution should their actions antagonize a government. This article provides background on the Panel, an overview of how it works, and an examination of noteworthy developments. It concludes by exploring potential issues and some relevant options.

It is the exclusive prerogative of the Crown to place recommendations for spending before Parliament. Strict adherence to this principle underlies what has remained the central formal limitation upon the independence of the officers of Parliament in Canada at the national level. With the exception of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, the estimates of the officers of Parliament have been developed in the same way as those for government departments.1Increases to spending authorities (in effect, organizational budgets) are achieved by submissions to the Treasury Board, developed through a process involving scrutiny by Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) officials and discussions between them and officer of Parliament staff. Ultimately, submissions are considered by the Board along with TBS recommendations. Treasury Board decisions determine the spending estimates that are subsequently placed before Parliament by the President of the Treasury Board for approval.

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Some observations on the State of Lobbying in Canada

This entry is part 10 of 12 in the series Vol 33 No 2 (Summer)

Some observations on the State of Lobbying in Canada

Lobbying is a legal activity and indeed an important part of the democratic right of individual Canadians to petition the government. In so doing, Canadians inform debate from many different perspectives and this should lead to better public policy. Concerns about the influence of lobbyists have led to considerable regulation of lobbying including changes stemming from the Federal Accountability Act. This article looks at some of the issues facing lobbyists and those who regulate lobbying.

Letters Vol 33 No 2

This entry is part 12 of 12 in the series Vol 33 No 2 (Summer)

Letters

Sir:In the Winter 2009 issue Scott Thurlow writes to defend our FPTP electoral system against its replacement by a system of proportional representation. In the Spring 2010 issue, Bronwen Bruch, president of Fair Vote Canada, writes in response to defend proportional representation.

The proponents of proportional representation, when criticizing the FPTP electoral system, are not opposed to the way that it compels the people to vote as much as the way that the votes are counted after the election. They consider that the way, that the people voted, reflected the way that they wanted to vote. They claim that it is the way that the votes are counted that does not reflect the way that the people voted. Of course, they also want to change the way that the people voted. But it is not to allow the people to better express themselves but it is to make the vote-counting easier to perform.

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Voter Turnout: A Case Study of Scarborough-Rouge River

This entry is part 1 of 13 in the series Vol 33 No 1 (Spring)

Vol 33 No 1Voter Turnout: A Case Study of Scarborough-Rouge River

In the 40th General Election on October 14, 2008, national voter turnout fell to an all-time low of 58.8% of registered electors. This was a decrease of 5.9 percentage points from the 39th General Election and consistent with the long-term trend. Likewise, voter turnout in the riding of Scarborough-–Rouge River dropped to an unprecedented low of 47.5%, the lowest in Toronto and seventeenth lowest in the country. For the first time in the history of the riding more than 50 percent of registered electors did not vote. This paper discusses possible causes of poor voter turnout using Scarborough–Rouge River as a case study. A number of suggestions are put forth to explain the decline. Continue reading “Voter Turnout: A Case Study of Scarborough-Rouge River”

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