MacLennan Chapter 7 - The Parliament of Canada Canada’s parliamentary body is bicameral It has two chambers: –House of Commons (elected) Lower House –Senate (appointed) Upper House Manitoba’s legislature is: –bicameral or unicameral?

MacLennan Our parliament reaches over 800 years ago to foundations of British parliamentary tradition but Canada’s Constitution - the rules and values by which we govern ourselves - is distinctly our own The core of the Constitution is a collection of 25 documents called the Constitution Act, 1867, originally BNA Act… BNA Act set out powers of Parliament, prov.gov’ts, Queen as head of state, H of C and Senate….but NOT a way to amend the Const.

MacLennan Constitution Act, 1982, “brought home the Constitution”..includes special recognition of Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms there’s no mention of Cabinet, political parties of the PM in any formal documents of the Constitution such things are in the Parliament of Canada Act

MacLennan How a Bill Becomes Law The process in each Chamber is similar: –First reading (the bill is received, printed, circulated) –Second reading (the principle of the bill is debated: is the bill good policy?) –Committee stage

MacLennan committee stage Step One: members of the public appear as witnesses before a committee. Normally after second reading…but it can be sent to committee BEFORE it’s adopted for second reading. Step Two: Committee members study the bill, clause by clause Step Three: committee adopts a report of the bill, recommends it be accepted as is, or with amendments, or that it NOT be proceeded with further

MacLennan Report Stage (motions to amend specific clauses of the bill are considered by the whole House) Third reading (final approval of the bill) Passage through the second house (the Senate) Royal Assent by the Governor General makes the bill law…a proclamation is issued. Why does it pass through the Senate? A “sober second thought.”

MacLennan about bills private members bill private bill private senators’ public bills private senators’ private bills senate government bills legislative summaries

MacLennan Public bills are introduced by the gov’t and referred to as public bills - affect entire public, begin C201 Private bills - deal with individuals or groups such as a business firms and begin C-1001 Senate bills - introduced in Senate - S100 Bills intro. by backbenchers who don’t hold leading positions in their parties are called Private Members Bills: rarely pass

MacLennan primary activity of Parliament is: –making laws –question period (for control and education) Parliamentarians much represent their constituents, serve as loyal party members, serve as ombudsmen and lawmakers, act as watchdogs on the government and the bureaucracy

MacLennan Parliamentarians: –meet with the media –members of the public or colleagues –respond to mail, phone calls –prepare speeches for the Chamber –review background documents for committees –carefully deliberate and debate the issues