POLSCI 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Responsible Government, Charlottetown Accord
16 Nov 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Technically speaking, parliament refers to the crown, the house of commons, and the. Any law must be approved by all three institutions. We made the case last class that under present conditions real political power over legislation lies with the cabinet and in particular with the prime minister. Two reasons: cabinet initiates most major legislation and therefore controls the agenda of the. House: party discipline means that most of the policies that cabinet decides upon will be passed by the house of commons (at least in situations of majority government) The failure of the commons to pass a piece of legislation initiated by the cabinet can result in the defeat of the government. The government must maintain the confidence of the house of commons. Opposition parties can question and challenge the government. And yet some argue that the house of commons is not as meaningful as it could be. That mechanisms like party discipline make the system too top down.
