Canadian Parliamentary Review articles from September 2000

Canadian Parliamentary Review archives from September 2000

Parliamentary reform: recent proposals and developments.
September 22, 2000... The topic of legislative reform was addressed in the March 2000 Speech from the Throne in British Columbia. This article looks at some proposals outlined in a subsequent motion in the legislature. It also looks at recent reform proposals in...

Who speaks for the environment?
September 22, 2000... In May 2000 Karen Kraft Sloan Member of Parliament for York North organized an EcoSummit conference which brought together scientists, academics and parliamentarians for a two-day meeting on the impact of water borne pollutants on human health....

Felix Desrochers: general librarian 1933-1956.
September 22, 2000... The Library of Parliament is one of the country's great intellectual resources. For many years it was Canada's National Library. Since the mid 1960s it has been a centre of information and research dedicated to providing Members of Parliament...

Educational mission of the Quebec National Assembly.
September 22, 2000... The bicentennial of Quebec's parliamentary institutions in 1991 inspired us to cast a backward glance at our democratic beginnings, recalling the critical importance of the Constitutional Act, 1791; of the first elections, in June 1792; of the...

Some thoughts on the future of parliamentary committees.
September 22, 2000... This article looks at the role of the committee clerk in Canadian legislative bodies and, in particular, how some reforms have changed and may continue to change the nature of the office at both the federal and provincial/territorial level....

Appointment of officers by the Alberta legislative assembly.
September 22, 2000... In every jurisdiction certain public officials (the Chief Electoral Officer, the Auditor General, Information and Privacy Commissioners, Ethics Commissioners and Ombudsmen) report to the Legislative Assembly rather than to a Minister of the...

Automating the Committee's Branch in Ontario.
September 22, 2000... It is unlikely that terms like `computer-guru', `code-wrangler' or `programmer' would appear anywhere in a lexicon of Clerkly descriptors. However, a casual stroll through the Committees Branch of the Ontario Legislature in 1999, would have...

Comment: re: the royal prerogative and the office of the Lieutenant Governor.
September 22, 2000... In an article (Vol 23, Spring 2000) by Professor Ronald Cheffins on "The Royal Prerogative and the Office of Lieutenant Governor" the author maintains that "the primary role of the Lieutenant Governor is to represent the Queen of Canada within...

CPA activities: the Canadian region.
September 22, 2000... Thirty-ninth CPA Canadian Regional Conference The 39th Canadian Regional Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association took place in Prince Edward Island from July 14 to 21, 2000. The Conference was opened by His Royal Highness...

Manitoba (a summary of legislative activity).
September 22, 2000... Since the last report Manitoba has been in the midst of a busy legislative session. On May 1, 2000, Rosann Wowchuk, the Minister of Agriculture and Food, introduced a government resolution urging the Federal Government to reconsider its...

Saskatchewan (a summary of legislative activity).
September 22, 2000... The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan adjourned the first session of the 24th Legislature on June 29th. After 71 sitting days, the budget was passed and 88 pieces of legislation were assented to. One of those bills permitted the newly...

British Columbia (legislative activity summarized).
September 22, 2000... The Fourth Session of the Thirty-Sixth Parliament of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly adjourned on July 6 after 50 sitting days. The session featured a modest legislative agenda - with only 32 bills tabled, as compared with 101 bills...

Alberta (legislative activity summarized).
September 22, 2000... The 2000 Spring Sitting of the Alberta Legislative Assembly adjourned on May 25th. During the busy 15 week sitting, 20 Government Bills and 3 Private Members Bills received Royal Assent. When the sitting adjourned, 4 Government Bills remained...

Northwest Territories (a summary of recent legislative activity).
September 22, 2000... The third session of the 14th Legislative Assembly commenced on June 20th with the delivery of the Budget address by Joseph L. Handley, Minister of Finance. He highlighted the key initiatives with optimism. Minister Handley's plans included the...

Senate.
September 22, 2000... When the summer recess began at the end of June, the Senate had adopted 22 Commons Government bills, 3 Senate Government bills and 3 Commons Public bills since the start of the session in October 1999. In addition, the Senate amended 2 Commons...

Assemblee nationale Quebec.
September 22, 2000... On June 16, 2000, the National Assembly adjourned for the summer after having adopted, since the resumption of proccedings in March, some forty public bills (five of which were passed within the framework of a motion to suspend rules moved the...

House of Commons.
September 22, 2000... On May 10, during Private Members Business, motion M-222 of opposition Member Yvon Godin on employment insurance benefits, after being amended, was agreed to unanimously. It is relatively rare that motions from Private Members' Business are...

Sovereignty of parliament: history and philosophy.
September 22, 2000... The Sovereignty of Parliament: History and Philosophy by Jeffrey Goldsworthy, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999 Ever since Lord Bryce published `The Decline of Legislatures' in 1921, the law-making function of parliaments has been largely...