Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, May 27, 2024.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has periodically waxed poetic about the House of Commons. But would he be willing to follow through on parliamentary reform ideas pitched by members of his caucus?Pierre Poilievre's party has talked a lot about the need for parliamentary reform.
"At times, however, we forget the order in which power is exercised. We think that the prime minister is at the top, with the House of Commons below, and the people down at the very bottom, but the opposite is true. In a democracy, the people have the power. We serve the people, and the government serves parliamentarians."81 senators later, Trudeau has changed the Senate.
But having come up through the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance, Poilievre should be familiar with at least the rhetorical appeal of parliamentary reform.stated in 2000. "But our parliamentary democracy is not all that it should be. Too much power is exercised by the prime minister instead of being shared by all our elected representatives. Excessive party discipline stifles open discussion and debate.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper has in the past called on the Speaker to do a better job of enforcing decorum in the House of Commons. But Cooper's most interesting suggestions related to the rules and mechanics of question period. Thirty-five seconds — the time allotted for each question and response — is not sufficient and allowing for more time might lead to more substantive and interesting exchanges, he wrote. And the use of lists — which allow party whips to dictate to the Speaker who will be asking questions each day — should be significantly cut back.
Chong suggested that the House of Commons borrow from a series of reforms made in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In the "mother Parliament," the entire House elects committee chairs and each party caucus votes on committee membership through a secret ballot. Chong also suggested that the chairs be more fairly divided among the parties represented in the House.
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