Parliament  A place where discussion takes place. It’s where a body of people meet to discuss matters of society.  parliament has three functions: representation, legislation and parliamentary control (i.e., hearings, inquiries).

Two Houses in Legislative Branch  Canada’s legislative part of government has an upper and lower house and is called bicameral. 1. An appointed Senate - upper house 2. An elected House of Commons - lower house Both are part of Canada’s Parliament!

The House of Commons  Members of Parliament are elected from ridings or constituencies located in each province.  Numbers of MPs in the House of Commons roughly correspond to the population share of each province.

Question Period  Each day the House of Commons sits, an opportunity is provided for the opposition to direct questions to the government.  The Speaker will oversee question period to ensure the rules are followed.  All questions and other debate in the house is recorded and printed in Hansard.Hansard

The Hansard The official record of debates in the House of Commons. Every word is officially recorded and available for the public to read. Now the Hansard is available online. hamberbusiness/chambersittin gs.aspx

The House of Commons

The Sergeant-at- arms carrying the mace. The Sergeant-at-arm opens Parliament and provides `security. It is a British parliamentary tradition which started nearly 400 years ago.

The Speaker The Speaker is the moderator of debate in the House of Commons.  He disciplines MPs who do not follow the rules.  He announces the results of all votes.  He is elected by all the members of the House of Commons.

Political Parties  Political parties are organizations of individuals who share common beliefs about public policy.  The political party that wins the largest number of seats in an election forms government.  The second largest party becomes the Official Opposition.

Seating in the House of Commons  The elected members of the government sit on the right hand of the Speaker on benches.  Junior MPs are usually backbenchers.  The PM and his Cabinet sit in the front benches.  The Leader of the Opposition and his Shadow Cabinet as well as the other opposition parties sit on the opposite side of the Speaker.

The Senate  This is the appointed upper house.  There are 104 Senate seats.  Senators are appointed regionally by the Prime Minister.  These are called patronage appointments and demonstrate the PM’s power to reward those who have been loyal supporters.

The Purpose of the Senate The original purpose was twofold 1. To represent the regions as a balance to the power of Ontario in the House of Commons. 2. To act as a chamber of “sober second thought” with the power to veto laws passed by the House of Commons.

Attendance in the Senate  Regular attendance in the Senate has become a very controversial issue as some senators do not regularly take their seats.

Abolish the Senate?  Too much government already. Get rid of the Senate and give more power should be given to House of Commons instead  It has rarely exercised its power to block legislation.  Costs too much for taxpayers to operate ($120 mil. A year!)  Patronage does not allow for proper regional representation

The Triple “E” Proposal Effective: in order to be truly effective in the representation of Cdn. Regions, Senate should not be based on patronage -It must serve its purpose to provide balance for House of Commons. In order to do that, it must have a greater role in law making process. Equal: Senate must stop its tradition of voting along with elected party -It must be held accountable to regional interests -Senate seats should be distributed more equally among each province Elected: use democratic election process and let people elect their Senators, rather than appointed by G.G. and P.M.

Or, should we keep it as is?  People say it still provides a benefit as a neutral body  It can originate laws but not those which require the expenditure of public money.  The Senate does improve the law making process by providing a challenge to House of Commons: “second sober thought”  Provides regional representation

Provincial Concerns  A lot of Canadians outside of Ontario and Quebec might want to keep the Senate in order to protect them from the strong influence of Central Cdn. Government  The Senate helps to represent their small population