Legislatures

The legislative branch of government provides a forum for debate of the day's leading political issues. By connecting to the sites maintained by Parliament in Ottawa and by the provincial legislatures, you can keep abreast of political developments. 

You can also follow the most public stage of the policy process, where the government's proposed laws are debated in the legislature and given more detailed examination in committees. Many legislatures also provide the full text of the bills before them. 

You can visit related sections of Canadian Politics on the Web that are dedicated to Canadian elections and political parties. 

A very useful glossary of parliamentary terms is provided by the Ontario Legislature. 

PARLIAMENT OF CANADA

  At the Parliament of Canada site, you will find a great deal of information about the two houses: the House of Commons and the Senate. 

You can read through the precis of procedure, which will tell you more about the actual process of business in the House of Commons. You can also read the actual Standing Orders of the House of Commons to find out how the specific rules are worded. To find out what happens when, consult the Parliamentary Calendar. You can also read about the relationship between constitutional conventions and parliament.

Find out who is currently a member of the House of Commons or the Senate, and look up their current pay & perks. Look up a table of women representatives serving in Parliament to see how many there are, and in which party. Also, you can examine the occupational backgrounds and previous experience in provincial politics of members of the House of Commons. 

There is a central parliamentary search site from which you can search for keywords in the on-line versions of the debates, committee hearings and reports, and journals of both the Senate and the House of Commons. 

Read about the role of the opposition in a parliamentary system of government. 

Connect to the Hill Cam, a site with live pictures of Parliament Hill updated every 5 minutes! 

For news about parliamentary issues

The Hill Times is a weekly newspaper that is an excellent source of information about current affairs in Parliament. Informetrica's Publinet posts daily information about hearings and events in Parliament and other federal government activities. 

The quarterly Canadian Parliamentary Review provides interesting articles about Canadian legislatures and politics. The CPR provides access to the full text of a wide selection of articles it has published. A few interesting examples written by sitting politicians are: 

For the House of Commons

Transcripts of the debates conducted in the House of Commons are posted the next day, allowing you to stay abreast of developments. The debates of the House of Commons are fully indexed.  (After Parliament convenes in 2006, be sure to switch to the 39th Parliament information on the pages linked to here).

Find out the current party standings in the House of Commons. 

Read the text of the government bills and the private members' bills proposed by backbenchers. Follow the progress of legislation and the status of House business. 

Much of the work of Parliament is conducted in the committees. Diane Davidson has written an interesting article on the powers of parliamentary committees. 


For the Senate

Debates in the Senate are available, as are the profiles and evidence of Senate committees. You can follow the progress of Senate legislation too. Examine a list of The Senate also provides a useful document on-line about The Senate Today, which explains the roles played by the Senate in our political system.  You can also read about Senate Committees: Role and Effectiveness from the Library of Parliament.

Look up the current party standings in the Senate. 

The Parliamentary web site provides useful research material on the relations between the Senate and House of Commons:

Some Senate committees reports of special interest over the years include: 

There have been various proposals to reform the Senate; the most recent one had the support of all the first ministers and is found in the Charlottetown Accord. 

Support for reform of the Senate has been strong for many years, but a 1988 Angus Reid poll revealed that almost as many Canadians wanted to simply abolish the Senate as reform it. 

The province of Alberta passed a Senatorial Selection Act in 1989 and actually held elections for "nominees" that, it was hoped, the Prime Minister of Canada would appoint to fill Senate vacancies. General Stan Waters was elected in 1989 as a nominee and was subsequently appointed to the Senate in 1989. Albertans elected two more nominees in 1998, although the Prime Minister filled the existing vacancy while the campaign unfolded. 

PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURES

  All the provincial and territorial legislatures now have web sites that provide a wide variety of useful material:

A useful resource to consult is Stewart M. Clamen's guide to legislative assemblies in Canada that provides the current membership and party standings in each legislature. 

The Northwest Territories legislature has distinguished itself by remaining the only legislature in Canada beyond the municipal level not to operate on party lines. Instead, it has worked on a consensus model.