Monthly Archives: September 2021

The Most Pointless Election Since 1965


2019 & 2021 We have just undergone a futile election which has produced substantively the same outcome as the previous general election in October 2019: a Liberal plurality around 15 to 20 seats short of a majority. On 21 October … Continue reading

Posted in Caretaker Convention & Government Formation | 5 Comments

Voting in the 44th General Federal Election and Forming a Government Thereafter


Casting and Counting Ballots Canadians not amongst those who voted in the advanced polls in record numbers shall go to the polls today (myself included) to elect their MPs for the 44th Parliament. However, Elections Canada has cautioned that we … Continue reading

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A Day in the Life of the 32nd Parliament, Part II


Brian Mulroney responded to Pierre Trudeau with convivial good humour, and his half of the exchange provides an example of my observation yesterday that MPs in the 1980s often spoke to their counterparts directly in the second person. Mulroney’s jovial … Continue reading

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A Day in the Life of the 32nd Parliament


The first televised proceedings of the House of Commons of Canada began in 1977, fully two years before C-SPAN began televising the United States House of Representatives. Our equivalent of C-SPAN, CPAC, has now uploaded online all the video footage … Continue reading

Posted in Decorum, Parliament, Traditions and History | 2 Comments

The Caretaker Convention in Newfoundland & Labrador in 2019


The Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law published my and Lyle Skinner’s piece on recent developments concerning the Caretaker Convention in Newfoundland & Labrador, including the Executive Council Office’s Guidelines from 2019 (similar to those of PCO in Ottawa) and … Continue reading

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