Category Archives: Reform

Extra-Constitutional Reform of the Senate of Canada

Posted on 2019/12/27 by J.W.J. Bowden

The latest issue of The Dorchester Review includes my piece on “The Founders’ Senate.” In this article, I outline how the Senate of Canada, and the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada, functioned as partisan legislative bodies from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Articles, Dorchester Review, History of British North America, Senate Reform | Leave a comment

Elizabeth May & the Spectre of Proportional Representation, Part II

Posted on 2019/11/05 by J.W.J. Bowden

Elizabeth May’s Electoral System Would Require a Multilateral Constitutional Amendment The day after the election, May appeared on CBC’s Power & Politics and both bragged that the Greens had tripled their parliamentary party (in the most basic sense, from 1 … Continue reading →

Posted in Electoral Reform, Reform | Leave a comment

Elizabeth May & The Spectre of Proportional Representation, Part I

Posted on 2019/11/04 by J.W.J. Bowden

The results of the general federal election of October 2019 – particularly in Quebec –  have revivified the unthinking cacophonous bleating about proportional representation to which the Special Committee on Electoral Reform gave a platform in the last parliament. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Electoral Reform, Reform | Leave a comment

Prince Edward Island’s First Successful Minority Government

Posted on 2019/08/20 by J.W.J. Bowden

MacLauchlan’s Early Dissolution Gambit Fails Premier Wade MacLauchlan on 26 March 2019 advised Lieutenant-Governor Antoinette Perry to dissolve the 65th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island and issue writs of election for polling day on 23 April 2019.[1] Prince Edward … Continue reading →

Posted in Crown (Powers and Office), Fixed-Date Elections, Formation of Governments, Reform | 4 Comments

Manitoba’s Early Election Expands the Caretaker Convention

Posted on 2019/08/15 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction  Brian Pallister, Premier of Manitoba after leading the Progressive Conservatives to a parliamentary majority and 53.1% of the popular vote and 40 of 57 seats in April 2016, has decided to ignore Manitoba’s fixed-date election law in the most … Continue reading →

Posted in Caretaker Convention, Dissolution, Fixed-Date Elections | Leave a comment