Cabinets & Legislatures in Canada

Possible functions of legislatures:
  • to legislate
  • to represent
  • to debate
  • to educate
  • scrutinize executive actions
  • legitimate executive actions
  • investigate issues and actions
  • decide who holds executive office - President/Prime Minister/Cabinet
  • suggest policy alternatives
  • ombudsman function for individual legislators
Factors limiting the effectiveness of legislatures:
  • size
  • frequency of meetings
  • number, size & membership of committees
  • executive dominance
  • party discipline
  • research & support staff
  • legislators' pay
  • electoral system
  • amount & complexity of legislation
  • merely approve or draft legislation
  • procedural rules
  • informal rewards and penalties

      Importance of different types of representation:

      • delegate
      • trustee
      • microcosm
        • of society
        • of political parties

WOMEN IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 1999

POLITICAL PARTY

NUMBER OF WOMEN

WOMEN AS % OF TOTAL
Liberal 36 / 156

23.1
Bloc Québécois 11 / 44

25.0
Reform Party 3 / 59

5.1
New Democratic Party 8 / 20

40.0
Progressive Conservative 2 / 20

10.0
TOTAL 60 / 301

19.9

BC MLA Occupation Profile: 1996

Business: 29.3

Law: 12.0

Education: 20.0

Farming: 2.7

Government: 2.7

Union: 5.3

Other: 28.0

The size of the cabinet/ministry relative to the governing party's caucus and the legislative chamber as a whole are among the most fundamental factors determining how effectively and independently legislative chambers may operate in a parliamentary system of government.

The charts below present visually the relative size of cabinets, governing caucus and legislative chambers in Canada's national and provincial legislatures.  



 

Legislature

Basic Salary

Non-Taxable Allowance

Sitting Days per year

avg '90-'95

B.C.

32,812

16,406

72.5

Alta

36,420

18210

98.2

Sask

55,000

n.a.

74.7

Manitoba

57,065

n.a.

93

Ontario

78,007

n.a.

82.8

Quebec

63,469

11,417

79

New Brunswick

36,485

14,594

40.2

Nova Scotia

29,226

14,613

64.2

P.E.I.

29,600

8,973

30

Nfld

38,028

19,014

79.2
These charts are compiled with data originally available at CANOE and the Parliamentary Internet sites, updated to February 1, 1999. Some material is also drawn from R.J. Fleming & J.E. Glenn (eds.), Fleming's Canadian Legislatures 1997, (11th.ed.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997

This page has been created primarily for use in POL-221 at Simon Fraser University in 99-1 by Andrew Heard.