New and Notable Titles
A selection of recent publications relating to parliamentary studies prepared with the assistance of the Library of Parliament (March 2020 – May 2020)
Defty, Andrew. “From committees of parliamentarians to parliamentary committees: comparing intelligence oversight reform in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK.” Intelligence and National Security 35 (3), 2020: 367-84.
- Some form of legislative oversight of intelligence has become the norm in most democratic states. The near universal acceptance of the need for democratic oversight does not, however, mark the end of a process of intelligence accountability. In many states, following a period of establishment and then consolidation, intelligence oversight mechanisms have begun to evolve as oversight committees have sought extra powers and developed new roles. This article examines reforms in parliamentary intelligence oversight committees in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, focusing on the form, mandate, membership, powers and resources of the committees as well as their engagement with other parliamentary actors.
Feldman, Charlie. “Preliminary observations on parliamentary and judicial use of Charter Statements.” Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law / Revue de droit parlementaire et politique, May/mai 2020: 587.
- Parliamentarians now have access to Charter-related information for every government bill introduced in Parliament because of a new statutory obligation recently enacted by Bill C-51, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Department of Justice Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act. This enactment enshrined in law a recent practice whereby ‘Charter statements’ – information on the Charter effects of a bill – were voluntarily tabled in Parliament by the government for certain legislative proposals. Bill C-51 received Royal Assent in December 2018 and its Charter statement obligation applies to bills introduced in or presented to either House of Parliament by a minister or other representative of the Crown on or after the first anniversary of Bill C-51 receiving Royal Assent. While parliamentary and judicial experience with Charter statements from the voluntary era is limited, it offers some insight as to the use and impact of these new statements. These patterns of practice will be important to observe going forward as Charter statements enter their statutory era. This work situates the new requirement for Charter statements within the broader context of pre-enactment constitutional scrutiny of legislation. It then presents practice observations from the voluntary era and outlines some issues for future consideration.
Keyes, John Mark, “Challenges of teaching legislative interpretation in Canada: tackling scepticism and triviality.”Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law / Revue de droit parlementaire et politique 13 (2), May/mai 2020: 479.
- The author’s aim is to examine the challenges of teaching the interpretation of legislation, particularly as they relate to Canadian legislation and law schools.
St-Hilaire, Maxime. « Affaire « Boulerice » : le privilège parlementaire comme modification constitutionelle judiciare et (donc) inconstitutionelle. » Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law / Revue de droit parlementaire et politique 13 (2), May/mai 2020 : 521.
- Le privilège, au sens générique, ou les privilèges que le droit canadien reconnaît aux parlementaires pourraient-ils être détournés de leur objet afin de voir, en matière disciplinaire et de contrôle des dépenses notamment, la majorité d’un parlement en opprimer la minorité ? Tel est l’enjeu institutionnel de l’affaire Boulerice et al. c. Bureau de régie interne de la Chambre des communes et al…