Parliamentary Book Shelf

Parliamentary Book Shelf David C. Docherty, Legislatures previous volumes of work in this Throughout the book, Docherty (The Canadian Democratic Audit field. also attempts to balance competing Series), Vancouver: UBC Press, The second advantage of this au- views on where legislatures are and 2005. dit relates to its focus in analysing where they should go. For example, not only the function of legislatures, in his chapter on who represents us, egislatures offers an audit of the but also the impact that governing Docherty writes about the desire of Ldemocratic nature of Canada's institutions have on citizens. This is having a legislature that mirrors the legislative bodies. As part of the Ca- in specific relation to the audit's cri- demographic makeup of society. nadian Democratic Audit Series, the teria of examining democracy in However, he also points out that book moves beyond the study of terms of participation, inclusive- this desirability of demographic federal parliament and provides, ness and responsiveness. The impli- parity in our legislatures does not where available, information on the cation of this on the study of mean that we should have or expect current state of provincial legisla- governing institutions is that we equal demographic distribution. tures. Although Docherty does at- should not solely analyse the work This is particularly due to an elec- tempt to show changes over time conducted inside the walls of legis- toral system that makes it difficult where data is available, the book is lative buildings, but we should also to ensure a legislature that demo- not meant to be a history lesson on acknowledge the work that is done graphically mirrors society. There- how legislatures have developed. away from these institutions as fore, this audit does what audits are This is because the purpose of the well. We often think of our legisla- supposed to do, which is analysing audit is to provide a snap shot of the tures as distant, and we sometimes these concepts objectively. current democratic state rather than fail to realise that politicians have Some of the more insightful sec- focusing on the past. duties to perform in electoral dis- tions in Legislatures relates to the This book has a number of posi- tricts across the country when they author's analyses of legislative web tive aspects. The first of these is that do not sit in the legislature. This sites and unpublished survey work. the audit provides current and re- may not be a novel concept, but it is This was coupled with an extensive vised information on how Canada's sometimes overlooked in legislative literature review of legislatures in legislatures work. The book pres- studies. However, it is Canadaandaroundtheworld. ents an update on the institutional appropriately considered in There are not many people writing rules, both formal and informal, Docherty's work. about legislatures in Canada. that are presently utilised in legisla- Another particularly positive as- Docherty appears to be one of the tures. These rules affect the behav- pect of this book rests in the accessi- few, and one can easily tell that his iour of prime ministers, cabinets ble manner in which it is written. It expertise is established by the fre- and backbenchers, as well as the was not cluttered with technical jar- quency at which he cites his own process for debating and enacting gon that is normally saved for ex- previous studies. The author also legislation. Furthermore, the broad perts. In fact, a wide range of collected some data from other themes addressed in analysing the readers will find this audit on Can- countries to give a sense of where function of Canadian legislatures ada's legislatures understandable. Canada stands in comparison to are representation, scrutiny and At the same time, the book avoids other Westminster countries and producing legislation. Things like being too general in a way that the United States. One example of party discipline, the selection of leg- would render it useless to the very this is the comparison of legislators' islative roles, and committee perfor- experts that are seeking an staffing and office resources. It was mance have been analysed up-to-date book on legislative insti- interesting to see how the allocation according to these themes, and this tutions. The book strikes the of budgets for legislators is uneven was a valuable update from appropriate balance between the across jurisdictions. The lack of two. standard formula for levelling such 50 CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW / WINTER 2005-06 disparities across jurisdictions, and islature's relevance. Just because Canada's legislative institutions there are more examples of them, new funding and programs are an- from this point forward. was a noticeable trend in the audit. nounced outside the legislature, it If there was a contentious section does not mean that members fail to Rob Leone of the book, it would be found in its debate and scrutinize the issues in Ph.D. Candidate concluding chapter which recom- their respective chamber. They still Department of Political Science mends possible reforms. However, get this opportunity along with vot- McMaster University as Docherty suggests, the recom- ing for or against a bill. It is true that mendations he makes are hardly procedures in the House can limit revolutionary. Some of these in- debate. However, the other recom- Busboy: From Kitchen to Cabinet clude making legislatures more rel- mendations Docherty suggests appear to be sufficient enough to by Don Boudria, Optimum Pub- evant, increasing the size of lishing International Inc., Mon- reduce the frequency of these. legislatures, providing more re- treal, Maxville, Ottawa, 2005. sources to riding offices, changing This recommendation of rele- rules to reduce the influence of po- vance seems to also be at odds with litical parties, and better utilising other recommendations. Part of the or more than twenty years Don parliamentary committees. Yet, in rationale for increasing the size of FBoudria was an observer and these recommendations, one may legislatures, for example, is to create participant in most of the political be able to sense some conflicting smaller constituencies that will en- and parliamentary events of the messages. able closer contact with legislators. day. By his own admission this Take the recommendation of Similarly, increasing the resources book will likely be a disappoint- making legislatures more relevant given to legislators will also allow ment to those seeking inside gossip. as an example. The complaint is that the constituency office to better It also does not tell us very much cabinet ministers have a tendency to serve citizens in their electoral dis- about how public policy is made in make major policy announcements tricts. All of these seem geared to- Ottawa. What we do learn is about outside of the legislature. Cabinet ward increasing the interaction Don Boudria’s life and it is an ex- ministers appear in these staged between the politician and the traordinary story. photo shoots across their respective citizen. No single path is taken by the 308 jurisdictions to announce major Despite these contentious points, men and women chosen to repre- new funding announcements and readers should not be dissuaded sent their fellow Canadians in the programs. Docherty believes that from reading this book. There is a House of Commons. But the usual such an exercise is anti-parliamen- lot of useful and worthy informa- route begins in a well to do or at tary because it sidesteps scrutiny. tion written in its pages, and most of least a middle class family with According to him, cabinet ministers the recommendations, particularly stops at university, perhaps law should be making most of these an- those involving party discipline school or a career in business or one nouncements in the legislature, es- and updating institutional rules in of the professions. Not so for Mr. pecially if legislatures are to become legislatures, will go a long way in Boudria. more relevant. However, it has to be improving the democratic aspects He came from a family of very said that one of the reasons these an- of Canada's governing institutions. modest means whose situation was nouncements have taken place out- Ultimately, what must be said made even more difficult when his side legislatures is to bring the about David Docherty's audit in father was killed in a car accident government to the people. These Legislatures is that we finally have a when Don was five years old. He announcements are trying to make modern, comprehensive update on dropped out of high school, joined a the capital seem less distant, and it Canadian legislatures that has been rock band, and eventually got a job is a way of letting people know missing since C.E.S. Franks' 1987 as a busboy in the Parliamentary what their government is doing. contribution in this area. For nearly Restaurant. Beside this point, every an- 20 years, students of Canadian leg- This book traces his life from that nouncement that is made outside islatures have only had that source time to his career as municipal the legislature requires legislation to utilise, and Docherty's update councilor in a rural area outside of to be introduced inside if it is to be- will certainly be a must read for Ottawa, to a seat in the Ontario Leg- come law. Contrary to Docherty's anybody remotely interested in islature, to the House of Commons view, this appears to maintain a leg- WINTER 2005-06 /CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW 51 and eventually a seat in the Cabinet are largely factual accounts of infor- Francophonie. It allowed him to of Jean Chrétien’s Government. mation that is in the public domain travel extensively and the issues A great deal of this book is de- with the occasional personal com- were not generally controversial.

Load more