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The Representative System and the Calling of Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Norman Ward
Norman Ward
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan
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Extract

Sometime between 30 October 1972 and the spring of 1973, the government led by the Rt. Hon. Pierre Trudeau, with fewer than half the members of the House of Commons belonging to the Liberal party, discovered that, unless it was prepared to use maps based on the 1961 census, one of the courses not immediately available to it was the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of another general election. The handicap (and it must also have particularly affected the strategy of the New Democratic party), was not for any constitutional reason; nor was it based on the possibility that the governor general might refuse the prime minister a dissolution. That possibility existed, although no one in the cabinet or Commons appears to have recognized it. Eugene Forsey concluded years ago, after his exhaustive study of the prerogatives governing dissolution: “Even where a great new issue of public policy has arisen, the Crown would be justified in refusing dissolution if Supply had not been voted, or a redistribution or franchise Act had not yet had time to come into operation, provided an alternative Government could be found, or provided the issue was not one which brooked no delay, e.g. a mandate for the despatch of troops overseas.” Two of the conditions noted by Dr Forsey three decades ago existed in 1972–3: a redistribution act had not yet had time to come into operation, and an alternative government could be found.

Type
Notes
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , December 1973 , pp. 655 - 660
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1973

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References

1 The Royal Power of Dissolution of Parliament in the British Commonwealth (Toronto, 1968), 262.Google Scholar

2 R.S. Can., 1970, c. E-2, s. 23.

3 Canada, House of Commons Debates, 19 July 1973, especially p. 5797. Mr Allen MacEachen, president of the Privy Council, was here speaking on the report stage of the bill to suspend the new redistribution, and gave an excellent summary of the situation.

4 R. S. Can., 1970, 1st Supp., c. 14, ss. 18(1).

5 Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, 1970, pp. 8:27–8.

6 Ibid., p. 8:25.

7 R.S. Can., 1970, 1st Supp., c. 14, ss 7(5).

8 “It is not feasible to introduce a system of Continuous Electoral Rolls in Canada at this time.” Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Fourth Report to the House, 19 March 1970. See also Report of the Representation Commissioner on Methods of Registration of Electors and Absentee Voting (Ottawa, 1968).

9 See Ward, Norman, “A Century of Constituencies,” Canadian Public Administration, 10(1), 1967, pp. 105–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 The relevant correspondence is reproduced in Newman, Peter C., The Distemper of Our Times (Toronto, 1968), pp. 498–502.Google Scholar

11 Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, 1971, p. 1:22; ibid., 1973, p. 3:21.

12 Canada, House of Commons Debates, 18 July 1973, p. 5770; R. S. Can., 1970, c. E-2, s. 13.

13 Canada, House of Commons Debates, 10 July 1973, p. 5465; Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, 1970, p. 20:16; ibid., 1973, p. 4:44.

14 Canada, House of Commons Debates, 10 July 1973, p. 5473. Having twice sat with Mr Justice Brownridge on the Saskatchewan Electoral Boundaries Commission, I should like the record to show that he is one of the fairest and most conscientious chairmen I have ever worked with, and that Mr Diefenbaker's references to both the map and Judge Brownridge were without foundation.

15 Ibid., 18 July 1973, p. 5770.

16 Ibid., 5 July 1973, p. 5336.

17 Ibid., 9 July 1973, p. 5434; July 10, 1973, p. 5473.

18 Ibid., 18 July 1973, p. 5772.

19 Ibid., 5 July 1973, p. 5346.

20 Statutes of Canada, 1973, c. 23.

21 Canada, House of Commons Debates, 5 July 1973, p. 5343.

22 Ibid., p. 5351.

23 Ibid., p. 5346.

24 Ibid., 9 July 1973, p. 5413.

25 See ibid., 12 July 1973, p. 5558–9; R. S. Can., 1970, c. E-2, s. 13.

26 Canada, House of Commons Debates, 5 July 1973, p. 5352. Incidentally, to save Saskatchewan its current 13 seats instead of permitting it to drop to 12 would require the total membership of the House to rise from 264 to 296.

27 Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, 1970, p. 8:19; 1971, p. 1:16.

28 Ibid., 1973, pp. 4:40ff.

29 Canada, House of Commons, First Session, Twenty-ninth Parliament, 1973, Bill C-203, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act, the Broadcasting Act and the Income Tax Act in respect of election expenses. The bill received second reading on 12 July and was referred to the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections.