The Senate, House of Commons, Ontario and Quebec Was Appointed to Make Arrangements for the Design and Presentation of a Suitable Mace
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Canadian eview V olume 40, No. 4 Rediscovering a Buried Parliament 2 CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW/SPRING 2017 On September 10, 1964, in Charlottetown, those i n attendants at the Canadian Area Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association unanimously resolved to mark the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the meeting of the Fathers of Confederation by presenting, on behalf of the provincial and federal branches of the CPA, a Mace to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island. To that end, a committee composed of the Speakers of the Senate, House of Commons, Ontario and Quebec was appointed to make arrangements for the design and presentation of a suitable Mace. The committee chose the design submitted by Canadian company Henry Birks and Sons Ltd., and the Mace was presented to the Legislative Assembly in a special ceremony on February 24, 1966, in Province House. Prior to this, PEI did not have a Mace. The Mace is approximately four and a half feet tall and weighs 10 pounds. It is made of gold-plated silver. The crests of the 10 provinces encircle the Mace just below its crown. Below those crests, engravings show the Coat of Arms of Canada and set forth the donors of the Mace. PEI’s provincial flower, the Lady’s Slipper, is engraved in several places. When the Mace is placed upon the Table, PEI’s crest always faces up. Ryan Reddin Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 2 CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW/SPRING 2017 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: NGC. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. paper, 27.7 x 40 cm. Purchased 1982, graphite on wove and gouache over Assembly, Montreal, c. 1848. Watercolour James Duncan. The House of The Canadian Parliamentary Review was founded in 1978 to inform Canadian legislators about activities of the federal, provincial and territorial branches of the Canadian Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and to promote the study of and interest in Canadian parliamentary institutions. Contributions from legislators, former members, staff and all other persons interested in the objectives of the Review are welcome. The Review is published for the Canadian Region, CPA. Any opinions expressed are those of individual contributors and should not be attributed to any Branch of the Canadian Region. Editor Will Stos Layout Frank Piekielko Production Team Julie Anderson Yasuko Enosawa Joanne McNair Albert Besteman Erin Fowler Wendy Reynolds Kim Dean Claudette Henry Kay Samuels Editorial Board Is There a Lawyer in the House? Patricia Chaychuk (Chair) The Declining Role of Lawyers in Elected Office Charles Robert (Deputy Chair) Graham Steele ......................................................................2 Blair Armitage Kim Hammond Sonia L’Heureux Francois Arsenault Linda Kolody Charles MacKay The Applicability of the Salisbury Doctrine to Tonia Grannum Danielle Labonté Kate Ryan-Lloyd Canada’s Bi-Cameral Parliament Heather Lank Christopher Reed ................................................................10 Fusion of Powers? Building Connections Between Subscriptions the Public Service and the Legislative Branch Four (4) issues in English or French Adam Walter ......................................................................14 Canada $40.00 - International $75.00 Four (4) issues in English and French It Takes Two to Tango—Exempt Staff and the Canada $75.00 - International $125.00 Lobbying Act Christina Vietinghoff ...........................................................19 Cheques should be made payable to: Canadian Parliamentary Review The Parliament of United-Canada in Montreal, 1843- Contact 1849: an exceptional archaeological site Canadian Parliamentary Review Louise Pothier and Hendrik Van Gijseghem .......................24 c/o Ontario Legislative Library Queen’s Park Canadian Study of Parliament Group: The New Toronto, ON M7A 1A9 Senate Will Stos ............................................................................30 E-Mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.revparlcan.ca (New) CPA Activities ....................................................................35 http://www.revparl.ca Editor: (416) 325-0231 Parliamentary Bookshelf: Reviews ..........................39 Fax: (416) 325-3505 E-Mail: [email protected] New and Notable Titles ..................................................42 ..........................................................44 Legal Deposit: Legislative Reports National Library of Canada ISSN 0229-2548 Sketches of Parliament and Parliamentarians Past: Senator Raoul Dandurand: Champion of an Cette revue est aussi disponible en français Independent Senate Peter Price.............................................................................64 CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW/WINTER 2017 1 Feature Is There a Lawyer in the House? The Declining Role of Lawyers in Elected Office Fewer lawyers are being elected to Nova Scotia’s Legislative Assembly in recent years. In this article, the author traces the decline over the past decades, provides some hypotheses as to why this trend has occurred, and analyzes what the relative absence of lawyers in a representative legislative body may mean. He cites the 1970s as a turning point for the decline of MLA-lawyers and suspects the shift from part-time work to full-time duties as an MLA, the relatively low salary compared to professional fees, and the poor post-politics job prospects, contributed to making the role less of a draw for practicing lawyers. The author also highlights skills lawyers may bring to the role of an MLA in terms of writing legislation and helping constituents with casework. He concludes by examining the Attorney General and Minister of Justice roles and the potential legal/constitutional questions that may arise if and when this cabinet position and the deputy minister position are occupied by non-lawyers. Graham Steele here is a common perception that lawyers Methodology: Where do the numbers come from? dominate our elected assemblies. It was true Tat one time, but it is not true today. To count the number of lawyers who have served in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly since In the May 2017 provincial general election in Confederation, I started with a comprehensive Nova Scotia, for example, the voters returned only biographical directory of Nova Scotia MLAs two lawyers to a legislature with 51 seats. That is a compiled by former legislative librarian Shirley post-Confederation low, both in absolute numbers Elliott.1 That directory includes an occupational and as a percentage of the seats. listing for almost all members up to 1983. This paper looks at the declining number To bring the count up to date, I consulted the of lawyers in the Nova Scotia assembly since Nova Scotia legislative library about lawyer-MLAs Confederation, considers the possible reasons for who served since the end of Elliott’s directory.2 the decline, then discusses a few implications. This methodology produces good results, but Although this paper focuses on Nova Scotia, it is we have to be a little cautious. What is a “lawyer”? a reasonable hypothesis that the results would be Certainly it includes a person who has been similar across Canada. admitted to the bar and who has practiced law. But should it include a person with a law degree but who was never admitted to the bar? Should it include a person who was admitted to the bar but never practiced? Graham Steele served as a Nova Scotia MLA from 2001-2013. He teaches at the Rowe School of Business at Dalhousie University and is a member of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. 2 CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW/WINTER 2017 For the sake of consistency and simplicity, I One quirk of this methodology is that it is possible counted an MLA as a lawyer if they are listed by for some lawyer-MLAs to have served in the same Elliott as a “barrister”. For MLAs serving after the session, but not at the same time.3 end of Elliott’s book, I counted them as a lawyer if they were, to my knowledge, admitted to a bar. That Results: What do the numbers show? omits two MLAs who held a law degree, but were never admitted to a bar. The results are shown in Figure 1. The most striking result is the steady decline in the percentage The next step was to compile a spreadsheet listing of lawyers in the House, starting in the 1970s and the sessions of the House of Assembly in which continuing to the present day. the lawyer-MLAs served. A “session” is the entire period between general elections. For example, the Since Confederation, 155 lawyers have served in first general election after Confederation elected the the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. 23rd House of Assembly. The current House, elected in 2017, is the 62nd Assembly. This spreadsheet During that time, the total number of seats allows us to count how many lawyers served in a available during general elections was 1711. Taking given session. into account the fact that many lawyers were elected Figure 1 Number of the Assembly CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW/WINTER 2017 3 more than once, and leaving aside the complications to carry on a practice after being elected, but it was of partial terms and by-elections, 490 of the 1711 not easy and required the co-operation of judges positions (28.6 per cent) have been filled by lawyers. and opposing counsel. For example, he participated in a five-day trial that was held on five consecutive From Confederation in 1867 until 1974, the Mondays, because the House of Assembly did not percentage of lawyers in the House of Assembly sit during the day on Mondays.4 He gave up his never fell below 20 per cent. In 1974 (the 50th law practice entirely after three years, when his Assembly) the percentage of lawyers dropped to legislative duties became heavier. 17.4 per cent, the first time it had ever been below 20 per cent. Since then the trend has been steadily The shift from part-time to full-time work was not downward, and the 2017 election (the 62nd Assembly) legislated or otherwise mandated, so it is difficult to produced the lowest absolute number of lawyer- pinpoint a precise point when the shift occurred. It MLAs (two) and the lowest percentage of the House seems to be generally accepted that a pair of NDP (3.9 per cent) since Confederation.