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Making Minority Parliament Work
  admin        October 5, 2004

Making the Minority Parliament Work

NEWSMAKER BREAKFAST
PETER DOBELL, FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE PARLIAMENTARY CENTRE
SEPTEMBER 30, 2004

Report by Brynna Leslie, SAP Canada

Introduction

There have been so many successive majority governments at the federal level in Canada that Parliamentarians have forgotten how to use “gentlemanly cooperation” to get things done under a minority government, said Peter Dobell, the Founding Director of the Parliamentary Centre

Context: No one wants an early election

Dobell said the electorate sent a clear message in the June 2004 election that it wants all parties to cooperate and accommodate. The people don’t want another election right now.

The mainstream political parties also want to avoid an early election, said Dobell. Opposition parties are debt-ridden and need time to strategize. And the Official Opposition, the new Conservative Party needs time – at least until its convention in March 2005 – to solidify its platform.

The governing Liberal Party knows the time for another election is not around the corner, Dobell argued there are only two reasons the Liberals would go into an election early: 1) They are confident they will win; 2) They are defeated on a bill. Dobell said the former is unlikely since the people don’t want to go to the polls right now and the latter is unlikely to happen while the opposition is averse to an election.

Dobell pointed out that this is a new political environment for most MPs. MPs have become used to the dynamic of having a majority government. But under a minority government, if MPs want to push through policies that are important to Canadians, such as the Health Accord and Equalization Payments, they’re going to have to stop fighting and start cooperating.

The Importance of Individual Members

Dobell said the fractured parliament means individual members must remain prepared for an imminent early election (less than four years). This means they will be in constant campaign mode in their individual ridings to fend off contested nominations. It also means that party politics will become less important than the politics of individual members and their constituents.

Within the governing party, backbenchers will have a greater opportunity to voice their concerns. Private Members’ Bills will be given more attention. Partially this is because during the June election, many Liberals did not like the way the Prime Minister was running his campaign as the leader of the party. Members worked really hard in their individual ridings to win seats on their own merit, rather than on the Liberal track record.

These members will now work just as hard in the House to fight for issues that are important to their constituents and Dobell believes the prime minister will pay attention.

Dobell concluded by saying that members from all parties will have a greater role in forming policy through the use of Private Members’ Bills and also if a more cooperative committee structure is adopted.

Committees

Committees are a perfect venue for Members of Parliament to come together on a non-partisan basis and determine policy, argued Dobell. He had a number of suggestions for committee reform (all of which have been forwarded to all the MPs).

Recommended Committee Reforms:

  • Elect Competent Chairs
    Chair’s position will be analogous to the mayor of a city. He/She will need to develop a consensus among members of different parties
  • Change Physical Set-up of the Committee Room
    Committee set-up should have mixed (non-partisan) seating in order to establish an environment that fosters cooperation
  • Parliamentary Secretaries should sit in committee
    They should not act as a whip for their own members, as they have in the recent past. But they should be present in order to promptly take relevant information back to their departments.
  • Revival of Green Papers/Standing Orders
    Should return to the practice of producing a report that reflects the wide range of opinions on a subject (non-partisan) brought to the committee, but a paper that does not include recommendations.
    The Green Papers should then be given time for discussion and debate in parliament, in order to attract media attention on the process of legislation.
    This would also help the government to see where there was enough common ground among the parties to proceed with non-controversial legislation.
  • Ministers should work closely with committee and its members
    Ministers should make a priority of meeting with individual members on a regular basis, regardless of party affiliation, to establish common thinking on issues.
  • Longer Appointments of Committee Members
    Committee Members should be appointed for at least two years to provide some consistency to the committee.
  • A Liason Committee should be Established
    The Liason Committee would give advice on how committees may work better.
    The Chair of the LC should be full-time (ie: not serving on other committees)

Conclusions and Final Remarks

With the vast array of public opinion in Canada, along with the general frustration with party politics, minority governments could again become the norm, argued Dobell. This was the case from 1957-1974 during which time there were five minority governments.

He believes this could make Parliament more relevant and interesting and possibly peak public interest.

Organizations outside of government will have to form solid relationships with individual parliamentarians that share their ideas/agendas. These members will have more power on a number of levels: In the House with Private Members’ Bills; in their parties, as parties struggle to maintain cohesiveness; In formulating policy, especially if committees take on more of the responsibility for formulating policy; and in their constituencies, where, due to uncertainty of the time frame for the next election, they will continue to campaign.

Click here to view Peter Dobell’s article called Making the Minority Parliament Work
You can also visit the web site for the Parliamentary Centre at www.parlcent.ca

F. Abbas Rana from The Hill Times, a weekly newspaper in Ottawa, wrote an interesting article on this called Punjabi is now Fourth Language in the House
You can visit The Hill Times Web site at www.thehilltimes.ca.

The following is a list of Canadian MPs of South Asian origin:

  • Gurbax Malhi
    Party: Liberal
    Constituency: Bramalea-Gore-Malton
    Province: Ontario
    Telephone: (613) 992-9105
    Fax: (613) 947-0443
    Email: malhi.g@parl.gc.ca
  • Ruby Dhalla
    Party: Liberal
    Constituency: Brampton-Springdale
    Province: Ontario
    Telephone: (613) 995-4843
    Fax: (613) 995-7003
    Email: dhalla.r@parl.gc.ca
  • Wajid Khan
    Party: Liberal
    Constituency: Mississauga-Streetsville
    Province: Ontario
    Telephone: (613) 943-1762
    Fax: (613) 943-1768
    Email: khan.w@parl.gc.ca
  • Navdeep Bains
    Party: Liberal
    Constituency: Mississauga-Brampton South
    Province: Ontario
    Telephone: (613) 995-7784
    Fax: (613) 996-9817
    Email: bains.n@parl.gc.ca
  • Ujjal Dosanjh
    Party: Liberal
    Constituency: Vancouver South
    Province: British Columbia
    Telephone: (613) 995-7052
    Fax: (613) 995-2962
    Email: dosanjh.u@parl.gc.ca
  • Yasmin Ratansi
    Party: Liberal
    Constituency: Don Valley East
    Province: Ontario
    Telephone: (613) 995-4988
    Fax: (613) 995-1686
    Email: ratansi.y@parl.gc.ca
  • Gurmant Grewal
    Party: Conservative
    Constituency: Newton-North Delta
    Province: British Columbia
    Telephone: (613) 992-0666
    Fax: (613) 992-1965
    Email: grewal.g@parl.gc.ca
  • Nina Grewal
    Party: Conservative
    Constituency: Fleetwood-Port Kells
    Province: British Columbia
    Telephone: (613) 996-2205
    Fax: (613) 995-7139
    Email: grewal.n@parl.gc.ca
  • Deepak Obhrai
    Party: Conservative
    Constituency: Calgary East
    Province: Alberta
    Telephone: (613) 947-4566
    Fax: (613) 947-4569
    Email: obhrai.d@parl.gc.ca
  • Rahim Jaffer
    Party: Conservative
    Constituency: Edmonton-Strathcona
    Province: Alberta
    Telephone: (613) 995-7325
    Fax: (613) 995-5342
    Email: jaffer.r@parl.gc.ca
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