Procedure and House Affairs committee  Chair, thank you very much for the opportunity to address this committee. My name is Michael Morden and I'm the Research Director of the Samara Centre for Democracy. Samara is an independent, non-partisan charity that is dedicated to strengthening Canadian democracy through rese

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The short answer is that there's no period that wouldn't be a little bit arbitrary. I don't think it's entirely reasonable, but I would not be opposed to a compromise that extended the pre-writ period somewhat and found some middle ground between the way the law is drafted now an

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it's a reasonable suggestion. I think ideally we would have taken on some of those elements and spent some time with.... In other words, each element, in part because they don't have a direct relationship to one another, has to be scrutinized in one shot. We had to limit

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think we are, so I'm sympathetic. I would imagine most agree that ideally there would be more time to permit that scrutiny while also meeting the other prerogative of being ready for GE 2019.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to address this committee. My name is Mike Morden. I'm the research director at the Samara Centre for Democracy. Next to me is Dr. Paul E.J. Thomas, our senior research associate. As you may know, the Samara Centre is an independent, no

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  One of the things that struck me in reviewing Sir David Natzler's remarks to committee was his suggestion that something like eight of the 10 most-watched debates in recent years had been debates in Westminster Hall provoked by petitions. It's really kind of astonishing. That's n

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it's another route to go. We outlined a few problems we thought a parallel chamber could help to resolve, but the extent to which it's resolved for one problem was coming at the expense of another. We've tried to make the case for at least setting a fair measure of time a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have little to add other than the person who is speaking has some prerogative in that you'll hear them say they're going to make some progress in their speech, and then they'll turn it back to them. They have a fair amount of agency in how they distribute their time.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Moreover, you're right to identify cultural problems, which are pernicious. I don't know how to solve them but to seek procedural change or technical change, which can help engender new behaviour. Behavioural change is really hard in the absence of any kind of alteration to the i

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I do think that in Westminster Hall some of the remarks are prepared but the exchange is much more dynamic as well. Often when a speaker gives way, the response is less scripted.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This is a fascinating proposal. I can't think of a comparable model, which just means that it might be that much more brilliant and worth exploring. I think at this stage we don't have a substantive stake to plant.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that points to the importance of getting the process through which such a chamber would be created. If it's an act of consensus in the first place, you can establish norms and conventions that can endure.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, and this frustration was shared across party groups. That was a consensus finding.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think we asked to assess members' satisfaction with the state of thoughtful and substantive debate at a higher level. That was the response we got.