On Petitions
All authorities agree that the right of petitioning parliament for redress of grievances is acknowledged as a fundamental principle of the constitution. It has been uninterruptedly exercised from very early times and has had a profound effect in determining the main forms of parliamentary procedure. – Speaker Gaspard Fauteux (Debates, June 18, 1947, pp. 4278-9) [...]
The UK deficit and the Canadian model
As a Canadian following the UK election campaign, it was very frustrating that Canada was never mentioned. As it became more and more certain that the vote would result in a hung parliament, the UK media repeatedly looked to other European countries as examples of how to deal with such a result, ignoring the fact [...]
When policy ideas are actually matters of debate
In recent years, in North America at least, whenever a politician changes their mind on a certain policy position, the press immediately jumps on this, calling the change a “flip flop”, which helps create the impression that the politician in question is indecisive and uncertain of where they really stand on a given issue, and [...]
Investigative inquiries and sensitive information: two approaches
The Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War was launched in July 2009 by the UK Government to consider the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July 2009, embracing the run-up to the conflict in Iraq, the military action and its aftermath, to consider the UK’s involvement in Iraq, including the way [...]
The Coalition and Canada’s deficit cutting model
When the coalition’s programme was unveiled in May, one item under the Communities and Local Government section caught my eye: We will promote the radical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups. This will include a review of local government finance. Given the critical deficit situation facing the UK, [...]
Yes Deputy Prime Minister, Part 2
In an earlier post, I looked at the position of Deputy Prime Minister, specifically in Canada and the UK, contrasting the tradtional role of DPM with the very high profile role assigned to Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, in the coalition government. This post simply updates the previous. On 3 June 2010, [...]
Forming governments in Westminster parliamentary systems
“The verdict of public opinion was pretty clear. Losers don’t get to form coalitions. Winners are the ones who form governments. The coalition in Britain — it is important to point out it was formed by the party that won the election.” – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, 3 June 2010 The formation of a [...]
Overwhelming support for electoral reform – in the UK
A ComRes poll for The Independent released today finds that almost 80% of voters in the United Kingdom support replacing First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) with a “system that reflects more accurately the proportion of votes cast for each party”. Only 18% disagreed. As well, support for changing the electoral system was strong across party lines. Unsurprisingly, support [...]
Political Realignment, Pt 2: Are big tent politics obsolete?
In an earlier post, I looked at possible political realignment in the United Kingdom, something a few journalists have speculated about following the formation of the coalition government there. In this post, I will look at political realignment at the federal level in Canada. The two biggest political parties in Canada, the Conservative Party and [...]
Yes Deputy Prime Minister
The position of deputy prime minister in Westminster parliamentary systems varies from one jurisdiction to another. For example, in both Australia and New Zealand, the position has become an official ministerial portfolio, since 1949 in New Zealand and since 1968 in Australia. In Australia, the duties of the Deputy Prime Minister are to act on [...]
« go back — keep looking »Admin
Copyright
On procedure and politics by Radical Centrist is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
