As part of our Parliament Overviews, Gregory Veevers, an MA student in Politics at Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, discusses the Parliament of Canada.
The Parliament of Canada is an institution of sharp contrasts. A legislature of considerable longevity, having sat continuously since 1867; it is also one of the world’s weakest national parliaments because of the country’s highly decentralized federal structure. Although designed on the Westminster model of parliamentary sovereignty, it coexists with a powerful judiciary against the backdrop of an increasingly volatile electorate. Bicameral in structure, some regard it as effectively unicameral in practice. But whatever its flaws and idiosyncrasies, it has unavoidably occupied centre stage in Canadian politics throughout its rich history.
History
Canada has been inhabited by various indigenous groups time out of mind. However, the country’s current governmental structure started growing in the 18th century, as the British began to consolidate territorial control in North America.
The country was originally governed by colonial administrators indirectly representing the British Crown, but they kept up sufficient pressure for representative government that elected legislative assemblies took root. These assemblies exercised very little power as against the appointed colonial executive councils, and the clamour for true self-governance culminated in the establishment of British-style responsible government (starting in Nova Scotia in 1848).
The basic principles of responsible government remain in force today as a matter of constitutional convention: the power of the state is exercised…
- in the name of the monarch…
- by the Governor General…
- on the advice of ministers who are…
- individually responsible to Parliament for the performance of their duties and…
- must collectively maintain the confidence of its elected house.
In 1867, three British North American colonies entered into a federal union, giving birth to the Parliament of Canada; the country has since grown to include ten provinces and three territories. Established (through a written constitution) on the same mould as the pre-Confederation colonial legislatures, it is headed by the Queen and includes an elected House of Commons and an appointed Senate.
Since 1867, there have been few changes to the basic institutional structure of Parliament.
Structure
Parliament is the only bicameral legislature that remains in existence in Canada—those provinces that created them have long since abolished them. As Canada is a constitutional monarchy, the power of Parliament derives from the Queen, who must give effect to all proposed laws through royal assent (a function performed in practice by the Governor-General).
The monarch and her representative also enjoy the prerogative powers to prorogue (temporarily dismiss) or dissolve Parliament, although sittings at least once per year are constitutionally required. This prerogative is invariably exercised at the request of the Prime Minister; it is a matter of ongoing dispute whether and in what circumstances the Governor General can refuse such a request.
The House of Commons is comprised of 338 Members elected on a first-past-the-post basis from single-member electoral districts; each province and territory is represented in rough proportion to its population. Its presiding officer is the Speaker, an independent legislative officer elected by his or her peers through secret ballot at the start of every Parliament.
Members may serve in a ministerial capacity (the Prime Minister generally appoints 30 or so Cabinet ministers), as an opposition party leader or critic, or as a “backbencher” representing the interests of their constituents and holding the government to account. In practice, backbenchers can be expected to toe the party line quite regularly. The Official Opposition (conventionally the largest opposition party) has a special constitutional role as “government-in-waiting,” most visibly performed during the daily Question Period.
Elections are held at least every five years and often much more frequently than that; a statute enacted in 2007 purports to create a system of “fixed election dates” every four years, but this stipulation has no binding legal force.
Until 1921, Canada had a two-party system featuring the Conservative and Liberal parties, but over the past hundred years a number of additional voices have entered the fray, including the labour-backed New Democratic Party; the Green Party; and a variety of regional “protest parties” of which the separatist Bloc Québécois is the only example still surviving. Election results tend to feature a great deal of regional variation.
This multipolar dynamic has given Canada a rich history of minority Parliaments, despite its first-past-the-post electoral system; on the other hand, a party can typically win a majority of seats so long as it attains roughly 40% of the nationwide popular vote. Coalition governments are extremely rare in Canada and have never formed at the federal level. Independent candidates rarely win federal office.
Women are substantially underrepresented in the House, making up only 29% of its membership; in addition, few disabled people have been elected to Parliament. However, visible minority and indigenous groups are only slightly underrepresented in the current House.
The Senate is comprised of 105 senators who are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. Its presiding officer, the Speaker, is directly appointed, not elected, to that position on the government’s say-so.
The Senate was designed to equally represent Canada’s four main regions: Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic provinces, and the western provinces. In consequence, the larger provinces (particularly in the west) are dramatically under-represented relative to their smaller counterparts on the Atlantic coast. However, the Senate performs better from the standpoint of descriptive representation, with 43% women and a roughly proportionate number of visible minorities and indigenous members.
Senators, once appointed, may serve until the age of 75. Historically, vacancies have been filled with partisan considerations foremost in mind, but in 2016 an advisory committee was formed to recommend candidates to the Prime Minister for appointment on a non-partisan basis; the independence of these appointees has been questioned by the opposition.
Powers
Canada’s 1867 written constitution establishes a decentralized legislative structure, although many argue that its drafters originally intended to do the opposite. Through devolution agreements, the three northern territories have also received many of the same powers afforded the provinces.
Still, Parliament has legislative authority over all forms of taxation, foreign affairs, trade, defence, immigration, agriculture, currency, criminal law, fisheries, indigenous matters, communications, interprovincial transportation, unemployment and pension benefits, and many other matters. It also has the right to make conditional payments to the provinces, a power of which it has taken considerable advantage in fields like health, education, and welfare.
More recently, Parliament’s powers have been constrained by the 1982 adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which sets forth a number of protected rights (primarily individual in nature). The judiciary can declare any Canadian law, including federal statute law, void inasmuch as it violates a right protected by the Charter; although Parliament can sometimes override these decisions, it has yet to do so. Celebrated Charter decisions include the invalidation of federal criminal statutes on abortion, prostitution, and assisted suicide, to name just a few.
Procedures
Canadian legislative procedures are modelled closely on the British example. The House sits approximately 125 days per year and the Senate about 75; these figures are substantially lower during election years. Proceedings take place both in the main chambers and in committees; each government department is assigned to a standing committee in each chamber.
The centrepiece of each sitting day in both chambers is the daily Question Period (lasting 45 minutes in the House), in which ministers are challenged on points relating to government administration.
Legislative proceedings in both chambers typically involve the introduction of a bill (first reading); its consideration in principle (second reading); its consideration in detail by a relevant committee; the adoption of the committee’s report, sometimes with further amendments; and its passage (third reading).
Every bill must pass all stages in both chambers before receiving royal assent, and the Senate can amend any legislation it wishes to (although, historically, Senate amendments have been quite rare). This process can take two years or more, even for major government bills. If it enjoys a working majority, the government can use a variety of procedures to curtail debate on its measures; the propriety of these tactics is a matter of ongoing debate.
Unlike most Westminster-style legislatures, the Canadian Parliament devotes considerable time to examining private members’ bills (backbench bills). These measures typically fail without government support, and those that pass are most often innocuous.
Finally, the House of Commons plays an important role in controlling the government’s purse strings. Estimates of government expenditure must be laid before and approved by the House three times a year; the departmental standing committees call ministers and officials as witnesses to explain their financial requests. As part of this process, the opposition is allotted 22 days per year for debatable, votable motions on the “Business of Supply”; in practice, these debates are usually an opportunity to embarrass the government rather than a chance for focused consideration of spending issues.
Further online reading
parl.ca (official websites of both chambers)
lop.parl.ca (Library of Parliament: lots of resources and information, including historical election results)
House of Commons Procedure and Practice; Second Edition, 2009 (Bible of House procedure)
Senate Procedural References (Senate procedural resources)