I read an article in the Globe and Mail, and then re-read it. The article sounded so familiar that

had to question whether it was one I had written. Two words but with a single thought! My thanks go to Prof. Andrew Heard of Simon Fraser University who certainly speaks my language (Give the House the Authority, Globe and Mail, Jan. 11, 2010). We both see the prorogation of parliament as a slap in the face of our elected representatives.

Prof. Heard wrote, “Currently the authority to prorogue, summon, and dissolve the legislature is one of the monarch’s common law powers. However the governor general is bound by constitutional convention to exercise these powers in most circumstances only on the advice of the prime minister and cabinet. In practice, the decision has become a personal power of the prime minister.”

In Canada, democracy is based on the ultimate control of governance being invested in the House of Commons, not government and particularly not within the authority of the prime minister. It is time for our elected representatives to accept their responsibility for holding the government accountable and change the rules of parliament. This can be done by a simple resolution in the House requiring that no head of government be able to advise the governor general to prorogue or dissolve parliament. This should be the role of our elected representatives. The British House of Commons accomplished this in 2007 through a government proposal. A similar resolution in the Canadian House would place the prime minister in contempt of parliament should he/she advise the Queen’s representative to take such action without the approval of parliament.

Further, to enhance the authority of the elected body, it is it is suggested that other prerogatives of the prime minister be contingent on a committee of the elected representatives. Current government plans are to appoint five new (Conservative) members to the senate. The red chamber was never intended to be a partisan body to either rubber stamp or oppose government legislation. There has been considerable noise in recent years to effect change in the appointment of members to the Senate. Advising on the appointment of members by a parliamentary committee would go a long way towards making the senior house less subject to political bias. Selection of outstanding Canadians across the nation might even create a body of second thought based on public views as originally intended.

Similarly a parliamentary committee to advise the prime minister on appointments to the supreme court would reduce the appearance of political interference in this important role of balancing decision making in our governance process. The same applies with the appointment of a governor general while leaving the ultimate decision in the hands of the prime minister.

There appears to be little doubt that the current process of governance needs a drastic revision. We elect members of the House of Commons, not government, but member’s function soon becomes allegiance to a political party, i.e. government or opposition. Canada is the only one of western democracies where political conformity requires elected members to vote automatically for the policies of their political bosses. It should be noted that cabinet members or shadow ministers are appointed by a political party with no input from the electorate.

The minor changes suggested here hopefully would influence policy though there is no guarantee that power hungry officials will remain unaffected by public opinion in a majority government situation. However we appear to be destined for minority governments for the foreseeable future. Here at least the elected representatives should be able to influence legislation. In fact one would expect that a leader of the party in power would make every effort to ensure that proposed legislation will meet with the approval of the House of Commons.

The arrogant attitude of government, “Support our legislation or we’ll force an election” has no place in sound governance, and neither has the cowardly support of opposition to acquiesce to such a threat. Members of Parliament are elected to make such decisions irrespective of party policy. Supremacy of our elected representatives is a basic tenet of government which we have every right to expect in a democracy.