Canada 360 | Roll on the reopening of Parliament

Canadians will have had to wait 63 days after the federal election on September 20 before the Parliament of Canada resumes. This wait is 38% longer than the average of parliamentary closings following the four previous elections, or 39 days. How to explain this state of affairs and what to think about it?

While the prolonged closure of the post-election legislature is legal and even justifiable, the fact remains that it remains problematic from a practical and democratic standpoint.

A legal closure

The deadline proposed by the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau for the resumption of parliamentary work is completely legal. Neither the Rules of the House of Commons nor the Rules of the Senate mention the prescribed or acceptable period between the date of the poll and the reopening of Parliament. The power to summon Parliament rests with the Governor General of Canada under the Constitution. Constitutional convention dictates that this power be exercised on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Trudeau therefore has great discretion as to the choice of the start of the new parliamentary session.

Only two limits to the discretionary power of the Prime Minister to convene the legislature exist. On the one hand, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides that Parliament must hold a sitting at least once every 12 months. With Parliament in session during the months leading up to the 2021 election, Trudeau could well have waited until 2022 before resuming his proceedings.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister has a duty to respect constitutional conventions. Traditionally, governments have met a certain deadline for reopening Parliament.

However, some new governments have had a prolonged post-election parliamentary shutdown. This was notably the case with Stephen Harper’s first Conservative government, which, elected in 2006 after a 13-year Liberal rule, took 70 days to reopen Parliament. Trudeau’s wait is therefore no exception, but neither does it come after a change of custody in Ottawa.

A justifiable closure

Despite repeated calls to reopen Parliament from the various opposition parties, the Trudeau government has not revised its action plan. Certain economic circumstances may have delayed the resumption of parliamentary work.

For example, the new cabinet could not be appointed until Governor General Mary Simon returned from her first official overseas trip to Germany which had been scheduled long before the election was called. Or maybe the new measures to fight the pandemic, like the standardized proof of vaccination, have taken over the entire government apparatus!

When Trudeau was asked about the prolonged closure of the legislature, he replied that it will be open for more days in 2021 than in 2015 and 2019, the two previous election years. However, it must be considered that the Parliament of Canada will have sat very little over the past two years due to the pandemic. It took some time before adequate protocols were put in place for the safe return of parliamentarians and the usual legislative timetable was observed.

A problematic closure

The delay in reopening Parliament is obviously problematic from a practical point of view. Several aid measures against the harmful effects of the pandemic will expire during the parliamentary recess and can only be reactivated after returning to the House.

In addition, the country is grappling with several major problems, such as rising inflation, and Parliament has many challenges to overcome to ensure prosperity for all.

After all, Canadians were told that a late election last summer was needed to plan for the post-pandemic!

It is on the democratic level that stopping the work of the legislature is however more problematic. The raison d’être of Parliament is to ensure responsible government. The executive must be accountable for its actions to the representatives elected by the people. The opposition often has a hard time getting that out of a majority government, but that changes in a minority situation.

By sending a minority Liberal government back to Ottawa, Canadians wanted to suggest to the Trudeau government that it did not have carte blanche to manage the health crisis and that it had to work with the other parties in a parliamentary context.

Roll on the reopening of the Parliament of Canada!

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