Author Archives: J.W.J. Bowden

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About J.W.J. Bowden

My area of academic expertise lies in Canadian political institutions, especially the Crown, political executive, and conventions of Responsible Government; since 2011, I have made a valuable contribution to the scholarship by having been published and cited extensively. I’m also a contributing editor to the Dorchester Review and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law.

The General Federal Election of 2019 Will Be First-Past-The-Post

Posted on 2016/09/12 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction Kady O’Malley’s column in the Ottawa Citizen of 27 August 2016, “A Lot Would Have to Happen If There’s A Referendum on Electoral Reform,” contained some bizarre, false premises on the nature of electoral law, from the electoral system … Continue reading →

Posted in Electoral Reform | Leave a comment

The House of Commons Should Not Authorize Military Deployments

Posted on 2016/09/11 by J.W.J. Bowden

On 8 September 2016, Maxime Bernier criticized the Trudeau II government on his official Facebook group for having decided not to put the deployment of the Canadian Armed Forces to UN operations in Africa to a vote in the House … Continue reading →

Posted in Cabinet's Powers, Crown (Powers and Office), Separation of Powers | 2 Comments

Who Is Canada’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister? It Depends on When “Canada” Began

Posted on 2016/07/01 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction The Parliament of Canada — Youth Connection’s Facebook group asked on 22 June 2016, “Who is Canada’s longest-serving Prime Minister?” and asked users to submit their guesses before confirming the answer in a later post, as Mackenzie King. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Constitution (Written), History of British North America | Leave a comment

How the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act Complicates Brexit and An Early General Election

Posted on 2016/06/27 by J.W.J. Bowden

Fixed-Term Parliaments Act Introduction Various British MPs like Jacob Rees-Mogg and journalists like Peter Hitchens have called for an early general election in the wake of Leave’s victory in the Brexit referendum and Prime Minister Cameron’s announcement that he will … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative, Confidence Convention, Confirmation Voting, Constitutional Conventions, Constructive Non-Confidence, Crown (Powers and Office), Dissolution, Fixed-Date Elections, Reform | Leave a comment

Does Budget 2016 Acknowledge That Electoral Reform Won’t Happen Before 2019?

Posted on 2016/06/19 by J.W.J. Bowden

  As I noted in my column “Time Has Run Out on Electoral Reform,” it is too late to implement a proportional system like MMP or STV in time for the next scheduled federal general election in 2019.  This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Electoral Reform, Reform | Leave a comment