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The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in the 21St Century

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The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in the 21St Century The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in the 21st Century by Arthur Donahoe The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states, each 2000 CanLIIDocs 244 responsible for its own policies, consulting and co-operating in the common interests of their peoples and in the promotion of international understanding and world peace. This article looks at the role of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association within the Commonwealth. Ince 1991 the size of the Commonwealth quently as 10 days per year, others as often as 225 days. S Parliamentary Association has burgeoned. In that VVithin the Commonwealth national Parliaments vary in year we had 127 member Parliaments, today we size from Tuvalu's which has 12 Members, to the U.K.'s have more than 140. Since 1992, Anguilla, Cameroon, which in August 1999 had 1683 and India's which has 802 Ghana, Mozambique, the National Parliament of Members. A number of sub-national parliaments are Pakistan and its four provincial Assemblies, Seychelles, even smaller than Tuvalu's — the Nevis Island Assembly South Africa and its nine provinces, Uganda, Fiji, has eight Members and Norfolk Island's Legislative As- Nunavut, Scotland, Wales and Nigeria have been either sembly has nine. admitted or readmitted to CPA membership. Most observers consider that modern Parliaments Unfortunately the October 1999 coup in Pakistan have three main functions and identify these as: resulted in its national and provincial Parliaments being • The legislative function (including participation in the put in abeyance.The return of Nigeria to democratic making of public policy through lawmaking, government will have a tremendous impact on our parliamentary enquiries, etc); Association, especially since its constitution establishes a • The oversight function (carried out mainly, but rot system which is in many ways more akin to the exclusively, by the "loyal opposition"); Congressional system than the parliamentary one. • The representative function (which allows Members to The Place of Parliament in Society address the problems of their constituents and promote their interests). Parliaments are unusual institutions. They differ greatly To the list of parliamentary functions one might add from one to another, both constitutionally and in their that of legitimization. The mariner in which Members be- practical political operations. They vary in size and come members has a huge impact on the representative- shape, in tenure, in powers and functions, in autonomy ness of a Parliament. And the representative character of and in procedures and traditions. Some sit as infre- a parliamentary body gives rise to its legitimacy, or the public recognition and acceptance of the right of Parlia- ment, and the government generally, to act in some man- ner, and the corresponding obligation of citizen to abide Arthur Donahoe, QC, is the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth by that action. Parliamentary Association and a former Speaker of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly. This is an edited and updated version of a paper The critical function of oversight, in traditional parlia- delivered at the 38th Canadian Regional Conference of the CPA in mentary systems, is so powerful that it includes both the Quebec City in August, 1999. SUMMER 2000 / CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW 13 selection and the removal of the Executive. In some par- parliamentary practices and procedures in an easily- liamentary systems - those with strong parties and a lim- digested format. But many Commonwealth Parliaments ited number of parties, elections are merely a way to lack sufficient staff and resources, and are unable to pro- select the chief executive. The United Kingdom is proba- vide such orientation. bly the best example of this. But in many multi-party sys- CPA Aims and Objectives tems there is less certainty, often no party receives a majority and there may be a number of viable candidates The CPA today, under section 1 of its Constitution, exists for Prime Minister. The question becomes one of who can to 'promote knowledge of the constitutional, legislative, put together a coalition of parties and Members so as to economic, social and cultural aspects of parliamentary gain majority support. This was the case in New Zealand democracy'. Although its membership is constitution- after its election in October 1996, and of course we have all y confined to practising Commonwealth democracies, seen the recent example of India where a coalition gov- the Association maintains relations with some non- ernment was unable to hold together and no other party Commonwealth parliamentary organizations and co un- could command majority parliamentary support. tries. An important aspect of the oversight function is the CPA activities are guided by the following precepts: role of the Opposition in situations where the governing 2000 CanLIIDocs 244 party commands majority support in the Parliament. At • Commonwealth Parliamentarians, irrespective of gender, race, religion or culture, share a community of a conference on the Role of the opposition sponsored interest based on respect for the positive ideals of jointly by the CPA and the Commonwealth Secretariat parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and held in Marlborough House in London in 1998, delegates individual rights and freedoms. made the point that mechanisms to promote accountabil- • The governance of Commonwealth citizens will ity and exposure can only be effective if there is a general benefit by exposing political practitioners to the many "culture of accourrtability" and commitment, by govern- different policies, procedures and systems employed ments as well as opposition, to the overall effectiveness by other practitioners on a Commonwealth-wide and of the parliamentary system. They agreed that all aspects regional basis. of administration must be subject to scrutiny and consid- • Although the Westminster-style parliamentary ered the mechanisms available to the opposition to hold system is dominant, all Commonwealth Assemblies the Executive to account, including parliamentary ques- contribute to the continuing evolution of democratic methods of governance based on their own cultures, tions, committees, the allocation to the opposition of its social traditions and levels of development so that no own time for debate, the role of the Speaker, and the rela- single institution or country is seen as pre-eminent and tionship between the opposition and independent offi- no individual practice is universally applicable ciais (such as the ombudsman) whose function was also without local adaptation; and to act as a check on government. • Political, constitutional and procedural consultations Despite its place as the fundamental national institu- are most effectively conducted by facilitating contacts tion underpinning nearly every Commonwealth coun- between Members and officiais of Parliaments and try, Parliament is the only institution composed of Legislatures and through full and frank discussions Members who enter with no specific educational require- unfettered by intergovernmental decision making. ments, who often receive little or no formai on-the-job training and who must immediately make complex pol- The CPA meets its objectives by: icy decisions in the face of rival demands from all sectors of domestic society and the wider world. Parliamentary • organizing conferences, seminars, meetings and support staff, while expert in other disciplines, often take special study groups for Members and officiais of on legislative posts with little specialized training - Commonwealth Parliaments and Legislatures. Our sometimes without even the support of experienced col- annual Commonwealth Parliamentary conference leagues. brings together over 350 leading Commonwealth Parliaments are governed by a series of seemingly ar- politicians and about 75 parliamentary officiais. The theme of the Conference held in Trinidad and Tobago cane orders and rulings, which are often daunting for a in September 1999, was "Responsibility, newly-elected MP (and for some who have been in Par- Accountability and Transparency — Enhancing Good liament for a long time). Some Commonwealth Parla- Governance by Improving Democratic Standards in ments are able to offer basic training for newly-elected International and Domestic Decision-making". MPs, either by mentoring or by arranging special intro- • Supporting the Small Countries Conference, held just ductory seminars. Others, notably the Parliament of In- before the main parliamentary conference. It brings dia, produce handbooks explaining various together Members from about 30 of the world's 14 CANADIAN PARLIAIVIENTARY REVIEW /SUMMER 2000 smallest Parliaments and Legislatures to discuss the ference to exchange views and experiences on ways to special problems faced in jurisdictions of up to 400,000 sensitize political decision-making to gender concerns people, for most of whom the CPA provides their most effective, and sometimes their only, forum. The Society and to overcome the particular barriers which discour- of Clerks-at-the-Table also holds special meetings age many women from standing for election. Three years during the animal Conference. ago we published a study, which was two years in the • Facilitating the exchange of visits between Members of making, on "Barriers to Women's Participation in Parlia- various Commonwealth Assemblies; ment", and which has been circulated to our Branches and Members. • Publishing a quarterly journal, The Parliamentarian, and a collection
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