English Posts

Executive Decision-Making: Challenges, Strategies, and Resources

This entry is part 4 of 10 in the series Vol 37 No 3 (Autumn)

Executive Decision-Making: Challenges, Strategies, and Resources

Executive branches of government are exercising increased control over decision-making, using a wide range of strategies to develop policy preferences and oversee their implementation. Canada, for instance, has seen a steady presidentialization of its parliamentary system, characterized by a heightened centralization of decision-making in the Prime Minister’s Office. The first part of this paper identifies a number of the cognitive biases that impede sound decision-making by the executive and examines two demanding, yet effective, strategies – multiple advocacy and the use of honest brokers – for mitigating subsequent distortions. The second part of the paper discusses challenges to effective policy implementation in light of the systematic disconnections between the executive and the public service. Finally, the merits of political patronage appointments as a means of mitigating these challenges are discussed.

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“Tremendous Assets”: Co-op students at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

This entry is part 5 of 10 in the series Vol 37 No 3 (Autumn)

“Tremendous Assets”: Co-op students at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Canadian legislatures provide paid employment for students in a variety of programs that benefit both students and legislatures. Hired as pages, interns, tour guides, summer staff, and in co-op programs, students assist regular staff in providing services to Members, other legislative staff, and the public. Through these programs young people earn money to help finance their education while learning first-hand about the institution at the heart of democratic government in their jurisdiction. This paper looks briefly at co-op programs in selected jurisdictions across the country and explores the Legislative Learner program in Ontario in some depth.1

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Same But Different: The 2013 Liberal Intra-Party Transition in Ontario

This entry is part 6 of 10 in the series Vol 37 No 3 (Autumn)

Same But Different: The 2013 Liberal Intra-Party Transition in Ontario

Kathleen Wynne’s ascension to the head of the Ontario Liberal party in January, 2013 automatically made her the province’s newest premier. Although the Liberals’ status as governing party remained unchanged, her victory necessitated the planning and execution of a transfer of power from old party leadership to new. Scholarly studies of transition in Canada and Ontario have generally focused on instances where one party takes power from another. This paper examines the Wynne transition and traces how its intra-party characteristics shaped its features and evolution. It is based on research conducted between February and May 2013 and primarily reflects 15 not-for‐attribution interviews with public servants and political figures.

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Observations on Youth Engagement in Parliamentary Politics

This entry is part 7 of 10 in the series Vol 37 No 3 (Autumn)

Observations on Youth Engagement in Parliamentary Politics

Low levels of youth voter turnout in recent elections have caused public concern about the disengagement of young people’s interest in parliamentary politics. In this article, the authors argue that legislative internship programmes and the presence of young legislators are both counter-examples to the trend of youth disengagement and evidence that some young people are actively involved in parliamentary politics. Drawing upon their experience as legislative interns in British Columbia, they offer a few strategies for youth engagement.

In recent years, parliamentarians and the public alike have decried the decline of youth engagement in parliamentary politics. This disengagement is most clearly evident in low youth voter turnout for provincial and federal elections.1 For example, in the 2011 federal election 38.8 per cent of eligible voters aged 18-24 years cast a ballot.2 In the 2009 British Columbia provincial election, only 26.9 per cent of eligible voters aged 18-24 years voted and 33.69 per cent of eligible voters aged 25-34 voted.3 Many young people are not voting which threatens the representative nature of our democratic institutions.

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Parliamentary Bookshelf Vol 37 No 3

This entry is part 8 of 10 in the series Vol 37 No 3 (Autumn)

Parliamentary Bookshelf

Conservatism in Canada, edited by James Farney and David Rayside, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2013, 400 pp.

Following three consecutive Liberal Party majority victories in 1993, 1997, and 2000, there was a sense among many that the Liberal domination of Canadian politics might be indefinite. Sure, Jean Chrétien may not have been beloved exactly, but when his superstar Finance Minister Paul Martin inevitably took over the party’s leadership, its majority would only expand.

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CPA Activities: The Canadian Scene Vol 37 No 3

This entry is part 9 of 10 in the series Vol 37 No 3 (Autumn)

CPA Activities: The Canadian Scene

More than 120 delegates and accompanying persons enjoyed some balmy New Brunswick weather and legendary East Coast hospitality as the 52nd Commonwealth Parliamentary Association – Canadian Region Conference was held in Fredericton from July 20-26.

Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians’ (CWP) Meeting

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Letter from The Editor Vol 37 No 2

This entry is part 1 of 14 in the series Vol 37 No 2 (Summer)

Vol 37 No 2Letter from The Editor

In this edition of the Canadian Parliamentary Review we turn our eye to what one contributor calls “the country’s most dramatic, if accidental, parliamentary reform”: constituency offices. With well over 1,000 constituency offices at the federal, provincial and territorial levels combined, many people across the country will have at least some familiarity with these institutions – whether simply passing by on a street or actively seeking assistance from their constituency office in person, by phone or by mail.

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Changing Partisan Representatives While Maintaining Office Staff

This entry is part 2 of 14 in the series Vol 37 No 2 (Summer)

Changing Partisan Representatives While Maintaining Office Staff

Upon replacing long-time Liberal Herb Epp as MPP for the riding of Waterloo North in 1990, Progressive Conservative Elizabeth Witmer hired two of her predeccessor’s constituency office staff. In this interview, Witmer notes that although such arrangements are uncommon between politicians with different partisan affiliations, adopting a firmly non-partisan approach to hiring staff for constituency work served her and her community well.

CPR: Can you tell us how you became involved in politics and the path that took you to your election as an MPP?

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No Independent Office Space: the PEI Experience

This entry is part 3 of 14 in the series Vol 37 No 2 (Summer)

No Independent Office Space: the PEI Experience

Members of the Legislative Assembly in Canada’s smallest province are not provided with a budget to establish their own constituency offices. Instead, as Deputy Speaker Paula Biggar explains, backbench MLAs must do constituency work and hold meetings in a variety of locations including their offices in the capital buildings, local government-run information access centres, libraries, coffee shops or even in their own homes. Biggar notes that while PEI MLAs are the lowest paid in the country, they tend to be, and are expected to be, the most accessible to constituents.

CPR: Constituency offices seem to have developed haphazardly across Canada over the past 40 to 50 years and are now well-established in many jurisdictions. Why do you think Prince Edward Island has not adopted them for provincial politics?

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