Members’ Assistance Program: Working in a Job Like No Other

This entry is part 2 of 13 in the series Vol 38 No.4 (Winter)

Members’ Assistance Program: Working in a Job Like No Other

It’s sometimes easy to forget that politicians are people too and must deal with many types of personal issues while serving the public in a job with particular stresses on them and their families. Members’ assistance programs offer support to parliamentarians and their families and it would be a good practise for legislatures to routinely review them to ensure they are effective.

Parliamentarians don’t often speak about the personal costs that a political life can have, or what we can or should do about it. In all our legislatures, Members devote a lot of time and energy to our jobs as we desire to make positive changes and are passionate to make the world a better place for our people and their children and grandchildren.

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Campaign School for Women: Sharing Political Knowledge Across the North

This entry is part 3 of 13 in the series Vol 38 No.4 (Winter)

Campaign School for Women: Sharing Political Knowledge Across the North

The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) – Canadian Region has been engaged in a number of outreach projects to foster interest among women in the political process, including campaign schools for women. The authors outline their participation in a recent Northwest Territories’ campaign school and note that despite differing styles of government (consensus versus party system) across Canada’s territories and northern areas of provinces, there are many similarities in the kinds of relationships parliamentarians create with constituents in largely rural northern communities.

As members of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians’ Canadian Region steering committee, we were delighted to take part in a recent campaign school for aspiring women parliamentarians in the Northwest Territories.

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Grandfathers and Grandchildren in the Parliament of Canada

This entry is part 5 of 13 in the series Vol 38 No.4 (Winter)

Grandfathers and Grandchildren in the Parliament of Canada

Building on an earlier study of Canadian parliamentarians who were part of the same nuclear families, the author explores grandfathers and grandchildren who served as parliamentarians.

In an earlier article, I presented a comparative study of Canadian parliamentarians who lived under the same roof (spouses, parents–children, brothers).¹ In this study, I looked at grandfather–grandchild relationships in Parliament. When reporters ask Justin Trudeau how his father influenced his own political career, he tells them that they should not overlook the influence of his maternal grandfather, James Sinclair. Born in Scotland in 1908, Sinclair was a trained civil engineer. He served as a squadron leader in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, and he was elected as the Liberal Member for Vancouver North in 1940 and then for Coast-Capilano in 1949. From 1949 to 1952 he was the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance, and then from 1952 to 1957 he served as the Minister of Fisheries. His political career ended nine months later with the second election of John D. Diefenbaker’s Conservative government. He died in 1984 at the age of 75.²

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Proportional Representation: The Scottish Model Applied to the 2015 Canadian Election

This entry is part 6 of 13 in the series Vol 38 No.4 (Winter)

Proportional Representation: The Scottish Model Applied to the 2015 Canadian Election

The purpose of this paper is to calculate what the results of the 2015 federal election in Canada might have been using a system of proportional representation based on the system in use for elections to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish model was recommended by the Law Commission of Canada in its March 2004 report¹. This paper does not attempt to deal in any depth with the implications of a proportional representation system, such as the tendency for it to result in a minority government, or with the relative merits of the various possible systems for proportional representation. Those matters are canvassed more fully in the Law Commission report. Continue reading “Proportional Representation: The Scottish Model Applied to the 2015 Canadian Election”

The Oldest Parliamentary Rules in Quebec and Canada

This entry is part 7 of 13 in the series Vol 38 No.4 (Winter)

The Oldest Parliamentary Rules in Quebec and Canada

This article presents a brief history of the oldest written rules of the first “Canadian provinces” and introduces two unpublished manuscripts on the Rules of Quebec and Lower Canada.

From the fourteenth century until the early nineteenth century, parliamentary procedure in the House of Commons was more a matter of custom and practice rather than explicit written rules.² It was not until 1810 that the Commons officially codified some of its procedures as Standing Orders.³

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Courting Controversy: The House of Commons’ Ad Hoc Process to Review Supreme Court Candidates

This entry is part 8 of 13 in the series Vol 38 No.4 (Winter)

Courting Controversy: The House of Commons’ Ad Hoc Process to Review Supreme Court Candidates

In 2006, Canadians were introduced to a new ad hoc parliamentary process to review Supreme Court candidates prior to their appointment. This article explores how the English-language news media framed this appointment and review process. The authors note the media emphasized conflict surrounding the process over its scrutiny of the candidates themselves and conclude that it remains an open question whether the process of parliamentary vetting actually provided a meaningful educative function for Canadians.

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Community Outreach: Bringing Parliament to Life

This entry is part 2 of 10 in the series Vol 38 No 3 (Autumn)

Community Outreach: Bringing Parliament to Life

The Community Outreach program offered by the Parliamentary Protocol and Public Relations Branch of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario brings the experience of Queen’s Park to communities and schools in a way that transcends financial and distance barriers. Participants get a hands-on experience learning about how Ontario’s parliament works, the responsibilities of the three levels of government, and civic engagement.

Learning the responsibilities of government and how the electoral and legislative process works is something every Ontarian should be familiar with. Unfortunately, travel costs preclude every resident from travelling to their federal, provincial and territorial assemblies to get a first-hand look at legislatures in action. To bridge this distance, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario has created the Community Outreach Program. Groups of children, young adults and ESL (English as a second language) learners have all gained an opportunity to learn the basics of parliamentary processes through this service. Shaped around the participating group’s existing knowledge, the program aims to fill the gaps of what they don’t know in an informative and entertaining way.

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Senate Reform: An Incremental Option

This entry is part 4 of 10 in the series Vol 38 No 3 (Autumn)

Senate Reform: An Incremental Option

Although constitutional barriers to major Senate reform make the task appear daunting, significant change can be achieved through deliberate evolution which is shaped by consistent objectives. In this article the author identifies an incoherence about the defining purpose of the Senate as a central reason for the failure of past reform initiatives. Outlining the incremental reform option, he suggests practical steps, notably introducing a “job description” and particular qualifications required of Senate appointees. This could improve both appointments and accountability, and also support future nomination committees or other mechanisms.

Canada is once again experiencing a cycle of media attention to alleged Senate scandals and opinion polls showing wide support for change. Unless public emotion about the Senate can be connected to practical solutions and action, however, history suggests that today’s intensity will merely be the prelude to tomorrow’s fatigue and collective indifference. This article explores an approach to reform that does not rely upon constitutional change and could thus be initiated immediately. The Senate today is a very different institution from the Upper House created in 1867 and will continue to evolve, either by default or as a result of deliberate effort. If its evolution is shaped by consistent objectives, significant reform of the Senate can be accomplished incrementally.

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A Consideration of Cabinet Size

This entry is part 5 of 10 in the series Vol 38 No 3 (Autumn)

A Consideration of Cabinet Size

Cabinet size has fluctuated in Canadian legislatures over the past century. Beginning in 1993, two federal governments introduced “roll back” cabinets which sought to significantly reduce the number of ministers. The author, focusing especially on the years 1993 to 2014, asks if Canadian governments have a “cabinet size problem.” He notes that since 1993 two trends have emerged: 1) cabinets are more likely to expand during government and more likely to consolidate between governments and 2) cabinet size is more likely to increase during government under centre-left parties than centre or centre-right parties. Although arguments for a reduction of cabinet size tend to focus on financial costs, the author highlights the political cost of having a large cabinet relative to the size of the legislature, as there are fewer private members to keep the government accountable.

Following a January 2014 cabinet shuffle, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 40-member federal ministry tied Brian Mulroney’s 1984 cabinet as the largest in Canadian history.¹ Compared to other Westminster systems, Canadian cabinets have been noted for their large membership.² Does Canada have a cabinet size problem? As Graham White wrote in 1990, “foreign visitors to Canada are frequently bewildered by the size of Canadian cabinets”.³ Beyond the institutional differences identified by political scientists between Westminster states, the size of the ministries in Canadian federal and provincial governments is subject to domestic scrutiny after each cabinet shuffle. On occasions of cabinet expansion, critics express austerity-themed worries of the cost of government and populist-based concerns of “too many politicians”. On occasions of cabinet reduction, first ministers are praised for “streamlining government” or “doing more with less”. Not surprisingly, Canadian politicians have been quick to pursue the positive responses to cabinet reduction, promising to appoint fewer ministers to cabinet.

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Cinderella at the Ball: Legislative Intent in Canadian Courts

This entry is part 4 of 11 in the series Vol 38 No 2 (Summer)

Cinderella at the Ball: Legislative Intent in Canadian Courts

This article explores a very specific kind of legal research – finding the intent of a legislature or parliament. Following a review of the history of legislative intent in Canadian courts, the exclusionary rule and an important Canadian case, Rizzo & Rizzo Shoes Ltd, the authors explore what developments in this area of law, statutory interpretation and, legislative intent research, might mean for parliamentary and legislative libraries in Canada. Based on research for their forthcoming Irwin Law book Researching Legislative Intent: A Practical Guide, this revised article was first presented to the Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada/ L’Association des bibliothèques parlementaires au Canada (APLIC/ABPAC) on July 4, 2013, in Ottawa, Ontario.

American statutory interpretation guru William Eskridge once referred to statutory interpretration as “the Cinderella of legal scholarship. Once scorned and neglected, confined to the kitchen, it now dances in the ballroom.”¹ Cited in a 1999 article by Stephen Ross, an American law professor who encourages Canadian legal scholars to devote more time to teaching statutory interpretation,² this quote perfectly captures the explosion of statutory interpretation scholarship that Ross sees happening in Canada. A fascinating area of legal research – which includes legislative intent – statutory interpretation also has a very important and practical use in courts. When the outcome of a case hinges on the meaning of a few words in a statute, interpreting the meaning of those few words will affect someone’s life and rights, one way or another.

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