Category Archives: Parliament

Two Swords and One Inch Apart?

Posted on 2011/07/28 by J.W.J. Bowden

If you’ve ever taken an official tour of the Parliament of Canada, the guide will normally present the House of Commons in the antechamber and explain the overall seating arrangements – that the government sits to the Speaker’s right, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Electoral Boundaries Readjustments, Parliament, Traditions and History | 11 Comments

Crowned Maces in the Legislatures of South Carolina and Virginia

Posted on 2011/07/18 by J.W.J. Bowden

I chose a British parliamentary mace as the header for Parliamentum, because the mace represents the Crown-in-Parliament (sometimes called the Queen-in-Parliament) and the authority of the Speaker and of the House of Commons to pass laws; it always points toward … Continue reading →

Posted in History of British North America, Parliament, Traditions and History | 7 Comments

“Confederation Day”: I Agree With Eugene Forsey On Something!

Posted on 2011/07/16 by J.W.J. Bowden

 I view the Canadian scholarship on issues like the appropriate extent of the governor general’s reserve power as a clash between two opposing camps whose basic positions have changed little, if at all, over the past eighty years. Only the … Continue reading →

Posted in Dominion Day, History of British North America, Parliament | 10 Comments

In Defence of Parliamentarism

Posted on 2011/07/10 by J.W.J. Bowden

After a tumultuous cycle of single-party minority government from 2004 to 2011, the 41st Parliament gave the Conservative Party a parliamentary majority. Many Canadians would think that the results of the last election give Prime Minister Harper unlimited latitude to … Continue reading →

Posted in Parliament | 9 Comments