Indigenous Peoples’ Place in Québec Parliamentarianism

The historically difficult relationships between Indigenous nations and government institutions resulting from the European colonization have led many Indigenous people to mistrust and feel alienated from the provincial political system. Even today, their voter turnout is lower than that of the general population. For some Indigenous people, engaging in Québec’s political system is tantamount to legitimizing a regime they do not acknowledge as their own, which could compromise the affirmation of Indigenous nations as distinct polities. In this article, the author looks to New Zealand to show how certain structural measures, such as the creation of reserved electoral divisions and the adoption of a mixed-member proportional voting system, can promote Indigenous Peoples’ participation in the democratic system while still affirming their specificity. The author notes that a reform of the voting system, as was considered in Québec during the 42nd Legislature, could provide an opportunity to adopt measures aimed at promoting the political representation of Indigenous people in the Assemblée nationale. *This article is a revised version of an essay completed as part of the Assemblée nationale’s 2022–2023 program for student pages. It represents the author’s views and does not reflect those of the Assemblée nationale du Québec or its employees.

Marianne McNicoll

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Liberatory Intimacies: Constellations of Co-Resistance in Parliament

Article 4 / 8 , Vol. 47 No. 3 (Autumn)

Liberatory Intimacies: Constellations of Co-Resistance in Parliament

Liberatory intimacies are the everyday relationships between Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) folks in which they seek to affirm and relate to one another counter to the matrix of domination. It is the foundational, every day advocacy and resistance necessary for transformative change. Equally, it is these affirming relationships which allow new knowledge to be expressed and shared to tangibly further strategies and solutions for transformative action. All the while, liberatory intimacies are the invisible, emotional labour to care for the well-being of BIPOC organizers to continue this work every day. Ultimately, this research seeks to understand if racialized MPs on the Hill exhibit liberatory intimacies in ways that affirm their sense of belonging and well-being on the Hill and supports their political work for social justice. It argues that BIPOC MPs on the Hill do demonstrate liberatory intimacies within and across party lines as aligned with their varying party conceptions of space and social justice. Their understanding of these intimacies as well as nature and extent to which they exhibit and invest in them is framed differently across party lines.

Rayna Charanjit Sutherland

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Reaching a Critical Mass: A Roundtable with Black Parliamentarians

Article 1 / 8 , Vol. 47 No. 2 (Summer)

Reaching a Critical Mass: A Roundtable with Black Parliamentarians

In our democracy, a parliamentarian has a duty to represent the interests of all people in a particular constituency or district. But parliamentarians who belong to communities that extend beyond their electoral district often find they assume a secondary responsibility to bring attention to community interests and/or share some common experiences with other parliamentarians who are part of these communities. In this roundtable, Canadian Parliamentary Review Intern Kaitlin Gallant spoke with three Black parliamentarians to discuss their experiences campaigning, as members of legislatures and political parties, and about the value of Blacks caucuses and multiparty organizations such as the Canadian Congress of Black Parliamentarians. *Responses from two separate telephone conversations were compiled into a transcript which was then reviewed and revised by all participants.

Participants: Patrice Barnes, MPP, Tony Ince, MLA, David Shepherd, MLA Moderated by Kaitlin Gallant

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The Independents: A Roundtable Discussion with Independent and Independently-Minded Parliamentarians

Article 2 / 8 , Vol. 47 No. 2 (Summer)

The Independents: A Roundtable Discussion with Independent and Independently-Minded Parliamentarians

On January 18, 2024, the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy welcomed three parliamentarians to discuss the experience of Independent parliamentarians and independently-minded partisan parliamentarians in Canada. Moderated by Professor Alex Marland, roundtable participants included Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, an MLA who won re-election as an Independent after previously being elected with a party, Bobbi Ann Brady, an MPP who was elected as an Independent without previously being elected with a party, and Scott Simms, a backbench MP who spent time on both the government and opposition sides of the House. Topics included the pros and cons of sitting as an Independent or as a party member, the constraints of party whips and “messaging,” and how these parliamentarians carved out a degree of freedom while either inside or outside of a party during their time in office. The session was dedicated to the memory of Peter Russell, author of Two Cheers for Minority Government: The Evolution of Canadian Parliamentary Democracy and other works, who passed away shortly before the event. *This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. The original recording of the event is available on the Churchill Society’s YouTube Channel.

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Common Seat Allocation Methods in Proportional Representation Systems and a Novel “Priority Allocation by Rank” Method

Article 3 / 8 , Vol. 47 No. 2 (Summer)

Common Seat Allocation Methods in Proportional Representation Systems and a Novel “Priority Allocation by Rank” Method

There are many examples of elections in Canada in which the successful parties who formed government earned a majority of seats that were disproportionate to their proportion of the vote. Some argue these outcomes signal the need to transform to a system of proportional representation. Several types of proportional representation systems exist. In some of those systems, determining how seats should be distributed among parties requires applying some form of seat allocation method. This article discusses two such methods, the largest remainder and highest average methods, and presents a novel method developed by the author, referred to as “priority allocation by rank.” Voting results from British Columbia’s 2020 election were used to create a hypothetical election scenario for the purposes of comparing seat allocations produced by these three methods. The results suggest that the priority allocation by rank method has potential to be a viable alternative to the other two methods.

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The Medium is the Message: Usage of Messaging Apps by Parliamentarians and their Staff

Article 4 / 8 , Vol. 47 No. 2 (Summer)

The Medium is the Message: Usage of Messaging Apps by Parliamentarians and their Staff

The days of hushed huddles and paper note passing between MPs appear to be coming to an end. The use of messaging apps by parliamentarians and staff have permitted instantaneous communication between people on the Hill and beyond without anyone ever needing to leave their seat. But do parliamentarians and their staff believe this new technology has changed their work for the better or the worse? In this article, the author uses interviews with MPs and staff from all recognized parties in the House of Commons to analyze how and why they use and choose specific messaging apps. Although there are clear benefits of having open channels to communicate among and between staff and parliamentarians, concerns over information security, work-life balance, and the growing influence of the Leader’s and Whip’s office were identified by interviewees.

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Adjusting Federal Electoral Boundaries in Canada: Redistribution 2022

Article 3 / 11 , Vol. 47 No. 1 (Spring)

Adjusting Federal Electoral Boundaries in Canada: Redistribution 2022

This article describes the general process of decennial federal electoral boundaries redistribution in Canada under section 51(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, which takes about two years from when the Chief Electoral Officer calculates the number of MPs per province to when the Governor General proclaims the Representation Order.

J.W.J. Bowden

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When Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Comes to PROC

Article 4 / 11 , Vol. 47 No. 1 (Spring)

When Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Comes to PROC

Changes to Canada’s federal electoral boundaries affect every person living in a particular riding. Yet, the process for changing boundaries occurs only once every 10 years. As such, a generalized unfamiliarity tends to exist among the public, as well as members of Parliament, about how the process functions and unfolds. There is only an upside to having every Canadian gain a better understanding of the steps that are taken to determine in what riding they will live, and who else will reside in that riding with them. In this article, the author first explains how this process unfolds under Canada’s Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act (EBRA), including the important role played by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC). He then offers some observations about the 2022 readjustments.

Andre Barnes

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The Surprising Case of Public Participation and Social Media Usage in Canada’s Redistribution Process

Article 5 / 11 , Vol. 47 No. 1 (Spring)

The Surprising Case of Public Participation and Social Media Usage in Canada’s Redistribution Process

During each electoral boundary redistribution process, members of the public are invited to provide feedback to the commissions’ proposed reforms to federal electoral boundaries. While participation rates in public consultation processes during the 20th century are reportedly low, little research has examined participation rates in the 21st century. Additionally, how public participation has been affected by the creation of redistribution social media accounts for the 2023 process is not yet understood. This article seeks to address these gaps. The results show that while (formal) public participation in the process has increased in the 21st century, a closer examination of the data shows there has been a mild decrease in participation for 2023 in comparison to 2013. However, if comments submitted through social media to the commissions are included, then participation rates for the 2023 process increase substantially compared to past decades.

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Public Involvement in Redistribution: A Reflection

Article 6 / 11 , Vol. 47 No. 1 (Spring)

Public Involvement in Redistribution: A Reflection

The Canadian Constitution requires that federal electoral districts be reviewed after each decennial census to reflect population changes. This process, known as redistribution, has two phases: representation and readjustment. Public participation is a crucial stage in the readjustment process. The Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act requires each boundary commission to hold at least one public hearing in the province after the boundary commission develops an initial map proposal. This article offers a reflection on the involvement of the public in the most recent redistribution process. The data in this paper is collated from the 2022 reports of the 10 boundary commissions; data collected from the 2012 redistribution is also used as context. The starting place for analysis will be the work of John Courtney where he draws several conclusions about the involvement of the public in his foundational analysis of boundary commissions prior to 1994. Since it has been almost 20 years since the publication of these works, this gives us an opportunity to reflect on those conclusions using the most recent processes.

Tamara A. Small

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