Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have not on that issue. Maybe I would like to answer later the point raised twice by Ms. Jennings, but that's all I have.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Ms. Jennings, you asked whether there is any evidence showing that if elections were held at fixed dates, the voter turnout rate would increase. There is no evidence of that. Yesterday, I called a colleague and good friend -- they are not mutually exclusive -- who shall remain n

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The point is whether we can come up with a list of items that would be matters of confidence. We have such a list at present, informally. It's pretty clear that we are not in complete ambiguity. A government is defeated if a motion of no confidence is passed. The motion must say

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Ms. Jennings. I am a political scientist, but I am neither a constitutional expert nor a lawyer. However, I myself have studied this carefully. I worked on Parliament Hill for seven years. I was there when the Constitution Act, 1982 was passed. As regards the formula

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You know, parliamentary institutions are complex things, and when you are talking about the parliamentary system, what I would say is that dissolution is pretty much, as they say in English, in the nature of the beast. Now, some people have tried to create the impression that ea

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, as I said in my presentation, I can live with this bill as it is presently worded. I suppose minor changes could always be made. Personally, if there is one thing, it would be that this be enshrined in our Constitution. I think it's a little strange, from a pedagogical stan

Procedure and House Affairs committee  What I meant was that a prime minister does not call a vote of confidence whenever he feels like it. It is a formal procedure. One of the rare examples that I cite to students -- I don't know whether you were in the House of Commons then -- is the time in 1988 when Mr. Chrétien

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'll try to answer this as best I can. This is one of the areas of the conventions surrounding the possibility of refusal of dissolution by the Governor General that is a grey zone, a grey area. I would say that if a new minority government is defeated, let's say, three days aft

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That would be interesting. I personally thought of that possibility. Look, I'm obliged to refer to Germany again because this is exactly what they have, the so-called famous vote of constructive no confidence. In order to avoid an election being held, they do two things at the sa

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There are two points I'd like to address on the issue of exceptional circumstances. Should you try to specify in a constitutional provision or in legislation when exactly and in what kinds of circumstances an early election could be called? Henry has mentioned the experience of

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me. I am familiar with Bill C-16 and the debates that took place in the House of Commons at second reading on September 18 and 19. I will be making my presentation in French. I can make an audible noise in

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Here, it is 11:05.