Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to participate in this discussion on the circumstances surrounding the government's use of prorogation this past summer. I will try to keep my remarks brief. The first point I would like to make is this: prorogation is a contro

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Personally, I can't see anything that would prevent the government from proroguing Parliament for a shorter period, declaring its intention to prorogue or allowing committees to continue their work until prorogation. Once prorogation is over, there is nothing stopping members who

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Certainly, but that's not entirely accurate: in a majority government, the use of prorogation is less controversial, because it does not tend to be used as a delay tactic, as may be the case in a minority government. Is Parliament seeking a confidence vote, an investigation? In

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Unfortunately, I don't know the time frames off the top of my head, but I'm happy to concede that they may have been long. In 2008, prorogation lasted for a number of months, and accordingly, the controversy was considerable in that case. I would even concede that proroguing Par

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have no problem agreeing on that point.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, one thing is certain: the duration of the prorogation counts for a lot. I am the most critical of the government on that front. Governments can decide to prorogue Parliament for a combination of reasons, ranging from political and strategic to virtuous. In this case, the si

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If the committee invites the Prime Minister and he accepts the invitation, it would no doubt be a good thing. You said that the prime minister had the constitutional power to advise Her Majesty's representative, the governor general. It's not quite that simple, though, because,

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would point to New Zealand and the United Kingdom, both of which developed cabinet manuals. The idea was not to change the conventional rules, but to at least codify them in writing, so that the public and parliamentarians could see and understand them. That approach does not

Procedure and House Affairs committee  What happened with the WE Charity matters. Parliament would do well to see the investigation through. Members of Parliament have the tools to initiate a new investigation, if need be. That said, I am not so sure it's necessary to redirect the committee's focus and turn a study o

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's necessary to differentiate between the content of the throne speech and the effect of the reset. The government is claiming that it has taken a new direction. Has it? I don't have an opinion one way or the other. I will say that, ultimately, I don't think that's what matter

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The smallest—but most effective—change would be to put a time limit on prorogation in an effort to eventually establish a new use, a new convention. I don't have enough time to tell you about all the small, but sophisticated, reforms that could be made to the conventions. Neverth

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Patrick Taillon, and I am a professor in the faculty of law at the Université Laval. I will summarize my main remarks briefly based on a very simple idea: one of the best decisions the federal government made in managing this unprecedented crisi

Health committee  With regard to a political crisis, I imagine you're alluding to the fact that the government is in the minority position in Parliament. At any event, I don't think that provincial MLAs naturally have better or worse solutions than federal MPs. That's really not the case. It's ju

Health committee  I'll be brief, so as not to exceed the allotted time. Health is first and foremost a provincial jurisdiction, but there are exceptions, and certain aspects are clearly defined areas of federal jurisdiction. However, there is the question of funding. When you have spending author

Health committee  A distinction needs to be made between this power and the opportunity to exercise it. The main thrust of my comment was to congratulate the government on its decision not to have exercised it and to have demonstrated just how unproductive and inadequate it would have been to do s