40th Canadian Parliament

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

40th
Monarch
Elizabeth II
February 6, 1952 – 8 September 2022
Governor
General		Rt. Hon. Michaëlle Jean
September 27, 2005 – October 1, 2010
Rt. Hon. David Johnston
October 1, 2010 – October 2, 2017
Sessions
1st session
November 18, 2008 – December 4, 2008
2nd session
January 26, 2009 – December 30, 2009
3rd session
March 3, 2010 – March 26, 2011
← 39th → 41st

The 40th Canadian Parliament was in session from November 18, 2008 to March 26, 2011. It was the last Parliament of the longest-running

New Democratic Party with the support of the Bloc Québécois (2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute). Of the 308 MPs elected at the October 14, 2008 general election, 64 were new to Parliament and three sat in Parliaments previous to the 39th: John Duncan, Jack Harris and Roger Pomerleau
.

There were three sessions of the 40th Parliament. On March 25, 2011, the House of Commons passed a Liberal motion of non-confidence by a vote of 156 to 145, finding the

Cabinet in contempt of parliament, an unprecedented finding in Canadian and Commonwealth parliamentary history.[1] On March 26, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper subsequently asked Governor General David Johnston to dissolve parliament and issue a writ of election.[2]

Party standings

The party standings as of the election, and at dissolution, were as follows:

Standings in the 40th Canadian Parliament
Affiliation House members Senate members
2008 election
results[3] 		At dissolution On election
day 2008[4] 		At dissolution
Conservative 143 143 21 52
Liberal 77 77 58 46
Bloc Québécois 49 47 0 0
New Democratic 37 36 0 0
Independent 2[5] 1[6] 5[7] 2[8]
Senate Progressive Conservative Caucus 0 0 3[9] 2[10]
Independent Conservative 0 1[11] 0 0
Independent Liberal 0 0 1[12] 0
Independent New Democrat 0 0 1[13] 0
Total members 308 305 89 102
Vacant 0 3 16 3
Total seats 308 105

Resignations and by-elections

Main article: By-elections to the 40th Canadian Parliament

NDP MP Dawn Black resigned her seat of New Westminster—Coquitlam effective April 13, 2009, to run (successfully) in the provincial riding of New Westminster in the 2009 British Columbia general election.[14] The NDP's Fin Donnelly won the seat left vacant by Black in a by-election on November 9, 2009.[15]

Independent MP

Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley effective April 30, 2009, to accept a job as the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs' senior representative in Ottawa. He was a former Conservative who voted against the 2007 budget, claiming that it broke the Atlantic Accord with his province and Newfoundland and Labrador, and was subsequently expelled from the Conservative caucus.[16] Scott Armstrong, the Conservative candidate, won the by-election for this seat on November 9, 2009.[15]

Bloc Québécois MP Paul Crête resigned his seat of Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup on May 21, 2009, to run in a provincial by-election in Rivière-du-Loup. Conservative Bernard Généreux won the November 9, 2009 by-election for this seat.[15]

Bloc Québécois MP Réal Ménard resigned his seat of Hochelaga on September 16, 2009, to run in Montreal's municipal elections.[17] On November 9, 2009, Daniel Paillé won this seat for the Bloc in a by-election.[15]

New Democratic Party MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North) resigned from the House on April 30, 2010, to run (unsuccessfully) for the mayoralty of Winnipeg.[18] Liberal Kevin Lamoureux won the by-election to replace her on November 29, 2010.[19]

Liberal MP Maurizio Bevilacqua (Vaughan) resigned from the House effective August 25, 2010 to successfully run for mayor in Vaughan.[20] Conservative Julian Fantino won the November 29, 2010 by-election to replace him.[19]

Conservative MP Inky Mark (Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette) resigned from the House effective September 15, 2010 to run for mayor in Dauphin.[21] Robert Sopuck held the seat for the Conservatives in a by-election held on November 29, 2010.[19]

Bloc Québécois MP Jean-Yves Roy resigned from the House effective October 22, 2010,[22] followed by Conservative MP Jay Hill effective October 25, 2010.[23] Conservative MP Jim Prentice resigned from the House effective November 14, 2010 to take a position with CIBC.[24] By-elections in these three ridings were not scheduled prior to the issue of the writ for the 41st general election.

1st session and prorogation

Main article: 2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute

The first session of the 40th parliament opened on November 18, 2008, after Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the

New Democratic Party, signed an accord stating that in the event that the government lost the confidence of the house, they would form a coalition with the support of Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Québécois, if asked to do so by the Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean
. However, Stephen Harper delayed the vote of non-confidence scheduled for December 1, and the Governor General prorogued parliament on Harper's advice on December 4, 2008, until January 26, 2009.

After prorogation, calls came from within the Liberal Party for Dion to resign immediately. Dion initially scheduled his resignation for the party's leadership convention in May 2009, but on December 8, 2008, he announced that he would step down upon the selection of an interim leader. After the withdrawal of Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc from the 2009 leadership race, Michael Ignatieff became the only leadership candidate, and therefore was appointed interim leader of the Liberals and the opposition on December 10, 2008.

2nd session and prorogation

The Governor-in-Council recalled parliament on January 26, 2009. Its first business (after the Throne Speech) was to present the federal budget, which included a large deficit. After negotiations with new opposition leader Michael Ignatieff, the government promised to present regular updates on the stimulus budget, and the Liberals and Conservatives joined to pass the budget and keep the Conservative government in power. The Conservative government made crime a major focus of the session. The Conservatives reintroduced their former mandatory minimums bill, known as Bill C-15.[25]

Protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa against the prorogation
March in Vancouver against the prorogation

On December 30, 2009, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that he would advise the Governor General to prorogue parliament during the 2010 Winter Olympics, until March 3, 2010. He telephoned Governor General Michaëlle Jean to ask her permission to end the parliamentary session and Jean signed the proclamation later that day.[26][27] According to Harper's spokesman, he sought his second prorogation to consult with Canadians about the economy.[26] In an interview with CBC News, Prince Edward Island Liberal member of parliament Wayne Easter accused the Prime Minister of "shutting democracy down".[28][29] The second prorogation in a year also received some international criticism as being not very democratic.[30]

In response to the prorogation, demonstrations took place on January 23, 2010, in over 60 Canadian cities, and at least four cities in other countries. The protests attracted thousands of participants, many who had joined a group on Facebook.[31][32]

Senate appointments

The

Larry Smith were appointed on December 20, 2010. After dissolution, Smith and Fabian Manning
resigned to run in the 2011 election. That reduced the Conservative caucus to 52, but they retained a majority of sitting senators as there were 50 senators of other parties and 3 vacancies.

Honorary senators

The Senate of Canada posthumously awarded the title of Honorary Senator during the 40th Parliament to five pioneering women known as The Famous Five.[33]

Emily Murphy
Henrietta Muir Edwards
Nellie McClung
Irene Parlby
Louise McKinney

Members

Main articles: List of House members of the 40th Parliament of Canada and List of senators in the 40th Parliament of Canada

Committees

House

Senate

Joint committees

Officeholders

Main articles:
2010 Canadian incumbents

Speakers

Other chair occupants

Senate

House of Commons

Leaders

Floor leaders

Senate

House of Commons

Whips

Senate

House of Commons

Shadow cabinets

By-elections

Main article: By-elections to the 40th Canadian Parliament
By-election Date Incumbent Party Winner Party Cause Retained
Vaughan November 29, 2010 Maurizio Bevilacqua Liberal Julian Fantino Conservative Resigned to run for Mayor of Vaughan No
Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette November 29, 2010 Inky Mark Conservative Robert Sopuck Conservative Resigned to run for Mayor of Dauphin Yes
Winnipeg North November 29, 2010 Judy Wasylycia-Leis
New Democratic
 Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Resigned to run for Mayor of Winnipeg No
Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley November 9, 2009 Bill Casey
Independent
 Scott Armstrong Conservative Resigned to accept appointment with Nova Scotia's Department of Intergovernmental Affairs No
Hochelaga November 9, 2009 Réal Ménard Bloc Québécois Daniel Paillé Bloc Québécois Resigned to run for Montreal City Council Yes
Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup November 9, 2009 Paul Crête Bloc Québécois Bernard Généreux Conservative Resigned to enter provincial politics No
New Westminster—Coquitlam November 9, 2009 Dawn Black
New Democratic
 Fin Donnelly
New Democratic
 Resigned to enter provincial politics Yes


References

  1. CTV news
    . Retrieved March 26, 2011.
  2. ^ CBC News (March 25, 2011). "MPs gather for historic vote". CBC. Archived from the original on March 28, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  3. ^ "Canada Votes 2008 - Overall Results". CBC News.
  4. ^ Members of the Canadian Senate are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister and remain as senators until the age of 75, even if the House of Commons has been dissolved or an election has been called.
  5. ^ André Arthur and Bill Casey.
  6. ^ André Arthur
  7. ^ Anne Cools, Michael Pitfield, Marcel Prud'homme, Jean-Claude Rivest, Mira Spivak.
  8. ^ Anne Cools, Jean-Claude Rivest.
  9. ^ Elaine McCoy, Lowell Murray, Norman Atkins
  10. ^ Elaine McCoy, Lowell Murray
  11. ^ Helena Guergis— CBC News (April 9, 2010). "Guergis to sit outside Tory caucus". CBC. Archived from the original on April 11, 2010. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  12. ^ Raymond Lavigne sat as a Liberal, but was not officially part of the Liberal caucus.
  13. ^ Lillian Dyck.
  14. cbc.ca
    , March 7, 2009.
  15. ^
    cbc.ca
    , November 10, 2009.
  16. ^ Tory MP ejected from caucus after budget vote, CBC.ca, June 5, 2007.
  17. ^ "Bloc MP runs for municipal politics". CTV News, June 25, 2009.
  18. ^ "NDP's Judy Wasylycia-Leis calls it quits". The Globe and Mail, April 27, 2010.
  19. ^ a b c "Fantino wins Vaughan for Tories; Liberals take Manitoba by-election". The Globe and Mail, November 30, 2010.
  20. The National Post
    , August 25, 2010.
  21. ^ "Inky hopes to make a Mark as mayor again". Winnipeg Free Press, August 17, 2010.
  22. Radio-Canada
    , October 22, 2010.
  23. ^ "Hill set to resign on Oct. 25: CP". Prince George Citizen, October 4, 2010.
  24. ^ "Prentice resigns seat; earliest byelection Jan. 3. Calgary Herald, November 17, 2010. p. A4
  25. ^ "House Government Bill - C-15, First Reading (40-2)". Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  26. ^ a b CBC News (December 31, 2009). "PM shuts down Parliament until March". CBC. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
  27. ^ Richard J. Brennan (January 2, 2010). "Critics say anger is growing over PM's 'imperial' style". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2010.
  28. ^ POV, CBC News (December 30, 2009). "Parliament prorogued: Necessary move or undemocratic?". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  29. ^ "PM 'shutting democracy down', says Easter". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. December 31, 2009. Archived from the original on January 3, 2010. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
  30. ^ "Harper goes prorogue". The Economist. January 7, 2010. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  31. ^ "Thousands protest Parliament's suspension". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. January 23, 2010. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  32. ^ Delacourt, Susan; Richard J. Brennan (January 5, 2010). "Grassroots fury greets shuttered Parliament". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
  33. ^ "'Famous 5' named honorary senators". CBC News. October 10, 2009.
  34. ^ "House of Commons Committees - PROC - ARCHIVE (40-1)". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  35. ^ "House of Commons Committees - PROC (40-1)". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  36. ^ "Senate Committees Homepage". Retrieved December 25, 2016.

External links

Wikinews has related news:

Media related to Protests against the prorogation of the 40th Parliament of Canada at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=40th_Canadian_Parliament&oldid=1194597297"