39th Canadian Parliament
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The 39th Canadian Parliament is the current Parliament of Canada, and has been in session since April 3, 2006. The membership was set by the 2006 federal election on January 23, 2006, and it has changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections. The longest it could run, barring war or national emergency, is five years (to February 13, 2011). Historically, however, minority governments in Canada such as the current one have rarely lasted more than two years.
It is controlled by a Conservative Party minority, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the 28th Canadian Ministry, which assumed power on February 6, 2006. The Official Opposition is the Liberal Party, led first by interim leader Bill Graham, and currently by Stéphane Dion.
The Speaker is Liberal Peter Milliken. Milliken was re-elected as the Speaker of the House for the 39th Parliament on April 3, 2006. The Speaker only votes in a tie, and, as Milliken is a Liberal, the Liberal caucus is effectively reduced by one, enabling the Conservatives to pass legislation with the cooperation of any one of the Liberals, Bloc, or NDP. See also List of Canadian federal electoral districts for a list of the ridings in this parliament.
There has been only one session of the 39th Parliament:
| Session | Start | End |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | April 3, 2006 | ongoing |
The party standings as elected and as of December 9, 2006 are on the table below. Since the election, one member crossed the floor, one was forced to sit as an independent, one died, and one resigned. By-elections were held on November 27, 2006, to fill the two vacancies, electing a Liberal and Bloc Quebecois member, the same parties that lost the seats in the first place. The new members were introduced to the House on December 7, 2006, and are now reflected in the party standings. For step-by-step changes in Parliament membership, see changes since election.
|
| Affiliation | House Members | Senate Members | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election | Dec. 7, 2006 | Election | Oct. 31, 2006 | ||
| Conservative Party of Canada | 124 | 124 | 23 | 23 | |
| Liberal Party of Canada | 103 | 102 | 67 | 64 | |
| Bloc Québécois | 51 | 51 | 0 | 0 | |
| New Democratic Party | 29 | 29 | 0 | 0 | |
| Progressive Conservative | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | |
| Independent | 1 | 2* | 5 | 4 | |
| vacant | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | |
*André Arthur and Garth Turner
[edit] Major Events
[edit] Floor-crossing
On February 6, David Emerson, elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver Kingsway, crossed the floor to join Harper's cabinet as Minister of International Trade. On March 18, 2006, Martin resigned the leadership of the Liberal Party, and Graham became Liberal interim-leader in addition to his duties as opposition leader.
[edit] Liberal Leadership
During the election campaign, the Liberal leader was then Prime Minister Paul Martin. After the election results were announced, Liberal leader Paul Martin announced his intention to resign, but did not indicate when, other than saying he would not lead the party into the next election. On February 1, the Liberal Party Caucus chose Bill Graham as parliamentary leader, meaning he served as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons until the election of Stéphane Dion as Liberal leader at the next Liberal Party leadership convention, held December 2-3.
Some political observers had questioned whether Martin would have led the Liberals into an election had the Harper minority fell in the first few months of the 39th Parliament.[1]. In 1979, Pierre Trudeau's Liberals lost to Joe Clark's Progressive Conservatives who only won a minority on May 22 of that year. The Clark minority was defeated less than seven months after on a confidence vote over the budget, which was much earlier than most observers had expected the government to fall. Trudeau had announced his resignation as leader of the Liberals on November 21, 1979, however in light of the collapse of the government on December 13, 1979, and the Liberal Party not having chosen a successor, Trudeau was persuaded to change his mind and lead the party into the 1980 election winning a majority government. However, while Trudeau had announced his resignation, he unlike Martin, did not appoint an interim leader or withdraw from the day-to-day leadership of the party.
As of March 18, 2006 Martin officially tendered his resignation as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. This move was widely seen as a move by Martin to stop any talk of him leading the party into the next election.
[edit] Five Priorities
Prime Minister Harper has said he will move forward with his top five priorities from the campaign. At least four of these will require legislative action: the passage of a Federal Accountability Act in response to the sponsorship scandal; combating crime by creating more police officers and setting longer mandatory sentences; lowering the Goods & Services Tax to 6% (and eventually to 5%); giving $1,200 for parents per child under the age of 6. Another issue expected to arise in the first session of parliament is the revisiting of the Civil Marriage Act which legalized same-sex marriage (See Members of the 39th Canadian Parliament and same-sex marriage for more information). Harper has said that he will address this issue in the fall, by means of a simple motion to the House as to whether or not the matter should be revisited. If such a motion were to pass, his government would introduce legislation to change the legal definition of marriage to two people of the opposite sex, while creating civil unions for same-sex couples; should the motion be defeated, the government will take no further action.
[edit] Major bills and motions
Important business of the 39th Parliament includes the following bills and motions. Note that not all of these bills have yet become law, their status is listed as of 11 December 2006. Motions (excepting those which pass bills) have no effect in law.
- C-2 - The Federal Accountability Act
- Passed in the House, now on its third reading in the Senate.
- C-9 - A bill to set minimum penalties for offences involving firearms
- Passed in the House, now on its first reading in the Senate.
- C-13 - The 2006 Canadian federal budget (Passed)
- C-16 - A bill to set fixed election dates
- Passed in the House, now on its second reading in the Senate.
- C-22 - A bill to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16
- In committee.
- S-4 - A Senate bill to limit Senators' tenure to 8 year terms.
- On its first reading in the Senate.
- A successful motion in the House to recognise the Quebecois as a nation within Canada. The motion was put forth by the Prime Minister in reaction to an announced motion by Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe that would recognise Quebec as a nation, but did not contain the words “in Canada” .[1] The motion passed 266 to 16, with all party leaders voting in favour, including Duceppe[2]
- A failed motion to reopen the same-sex marriage debate. The 38th Canadian Parliament, led by the Liberals, had legalised same-sex marriage a year earlier, and many provinces before that. Harper’s motion to reopen the issue was a promise he made while campaigning, but doing so would likely have been unconstitutional. The motion failed 175-123, so the issue is closed, again, leaving same-sex marriage legal in Canada.[3]
Complete lists of bills:
- House of Commons Government Bills (C-2 to C-200) [2]
- House of Commons Private Members' Bills (C-201 to C-1000) [3]
- Senate Government Bills (S-2 to S-200) [4]
- Senate Private Members' Public Bills (S-201 to S-1000) [5]
- Senate Private Members' Private Bills (S-1001 to S-2000) [6]
[edit] Members
- See also: Women in the 39th Canadian Parliament
[edit] Legend
- Bold text denotes cabinet ministers (two cabinet members, Senator Michael Fortier and Senator Marjory LeBreton are not members of the House of Commons)
- Italic text denotes leaders
| Conservative | |
| Liberal | |
| Bloc Québécois | |
| New Democrat | |
| Independent |
[edit] Newfoundland and Labrador
[edit] Nova Scotia
[edit] Prince Edward Island
| Name | Party | Electoral district | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawrence MacAulay | Liberal | Cardigan | |
| Shawn Murphy | Liberal | Charlottetown | |
| Joe McGuire | Liberal | Egmont | |
| Wayne Easter | Liberal | Malpeque |
[edit] New Brunswick
[edit] Quebec
[edit] Ontario
- ↑c Elected as a Conservative.
- ↑d Member since swearing-in date of by-election.
- ↑e Party leader until December 2, 2006.
- ↑f Cabinet minister until November 27, 2006.
- ↑g Cabinet minister since November 27, 2006.
[edit] Manitoba
[edit] Saskatchewan
[edit] Alberta
[edit] British Columbia
[edit] The North
| Name | Party | Electoral district | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nancy Karetak-Lindell | Liberal | Nunavut | |
| Dennis Bevington | New Democrat | Western Arctic | |
| Larry Bagnell | Liberal | Yukon |
[edit] Changes since election
The party standings have changed as follows:
| Affiliation | Members as of | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 23 | Feb. 6 | Aug. 28 | Sep. 20 | Oct. 18 | Dec. 7 | ||
| Conservative Party of Canada | 124 | 125 | 124 | ||||
| Liberal Party of Canada | 103 | 102 | 101 | 102 | |||
| Bloc Québécois | 51 | 50 | 51 | ||||
| New Democratic Party | 29 | ||||||
| Independent* | 1 | 2 | |||||
| vacant | 1 | 2 | |||||
*André Arthur and Garth Turner
[edit] Changes in party affiliation
| Name | Party (current) | Party (when elected) | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Emerson | Conservative | Liberal | Crossed the floor from the Liberal Party on February 6, 2006 to be sworn in as Conservative Minister of International Trade.[7] | |
| Garth Turner | Independent | Conservative | Removed from the Conservative caucus on October 18, 2006 due to breaking caucus confidentiality.[8] |
[edit] Changes in membership
| Name | Party | Electoral district | Cause of departure | Succeeded by | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benoît Sauvageau | Bloc Québécois | Repentigny | Died August 28, 2006 | Raymond Gravel (Bloc Québécois) | |
| Joe Fontana | Liberal | London North Centre | Resigned September 20, 2006 to run for Mayor of London | Glen Pearson (Liberal) |
[edit] Officeholders
[edit] Speakers
- Peter Milliken (the Liberal Member for Kingston and the Islands) was re-elected Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons on April 3, 2006. He defeated Diane Marleau (the Liberal Member for Sudbury) and Marcel Proulx (the Liberal Member for Hull—Aylmer) on the first ballot, becoming only the third Speaker from an opposition party in history.
- Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees of the Whole—Bill Blaikie (the New Democratic Party Member for Elmwood—Transcona),
- Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole—Royal Galipeau (the Conservative Member for Ottawa—Orléans),
- Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole—Andrew Scheer (the Conservative Member for Regina—Qu'Appelle)
[edit] Leaders
- Prime Minister of Canada: Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper (Conservative)
- Leader of the Opposition: Hon. Stéphane Dion (Liberal)
- BQ leader: Gilles Duceppe
- NDP leader: Hon. Jack Layton
[edit] Front Bench
- Government: see Canadian Cabinet
Opposition:
- Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (Liberal Party of Canada)
- Bloc Québécois Shadow Cabinet
- New Democratic Party Shadow Cabinet
[edit] House Leaders
- Government House Leader: Hon. Rob Nicholson
- Opposition: Hon. Ralph Goodale
- BQ: Michel Gauthier
- NDP: Libby Davies
[edit] Whips
- Chief Government Whip: Hon. Jay Hill
- Deputy Government Whip: Guy Lauzon
- Official Opposition Whip: Hon. Karen Redman
- BQ Whip: Michel Guimond
- NDP Whip: Yvon Godin
[edit] References
- Government of Canada. 39th Parliament. Members of the House of Commons: 1867 to Date: By Parliament. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-11-30.
- Government of Canada. The Canadian Ministry in order of precedence (Current). Canadian Ministry (Cabinet). Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
- Government of Canada. The Canadian Ministry in order of precedence (September 2001 to date). Canadian Ministry (Cabinet). Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
- Government of Canada. Duration of Sessions. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-05-12.
- Government of Canada. General Elections. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-05-12.
- Government of Canada. House of Commons Government Bills. LEGISinfo. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
- Government of Canada. Key Dates for each Parliament. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-05-12.
- Government of Canada. Leaders of the Opposition in the House of Commons. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-05-12.
- Government of Canada. Prime Ministers of Canada. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-05-12.
- Government of Canada. Senate Government Bills. LEGISinfo. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
- Government of Canada. Senate Standings and Average Age of Senators: 1975 to Date. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.
- Government of Canada. Speakers. Library of Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-05-12.
- ^ Sheppard, Robert. "Quebec nationalism, a long history", In Depth: The 39th Parliament, CBC.ca, November 23, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
- ^ CBC News. "How each MP voted on Québécois nationhood", In Depth: The 39th Parliament, CBC.ca, November 28, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
- ^ Canadian Press. "MPs vote against revisiting gay marriage issue", CBC.ca, December 7, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
[edit] Succession
| Preceded by: 38th Canadian Parliament |
Canadian Parliaments 2006– |
Succeeded by: In Session |
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