Last evening, after 16 years as Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
and nine years as the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty resigned
unexpectedly. Partisans, pundits, journalists and other observers have
already started, and will continue to, pick apart McGuinty’s record as
he serves his remaining days.
It was also newsworthy that at the same time as he announced his resignation, McGuinty prorogued the Ontario legislature.
While some will find this
of little interest or
just merely a distraction from the broader political fall out and
machinations, I would suggest the decision to prorogue deserves
considerable attention.
Prorogation has a legitimate – and valuable – function within the parliamentary system.
Parliament is prorogued so that the government can efficiently
organize sessions, allowing it to conclude one session when its
legislative program has come to an end and it wishes to introduce a new
legislative program. Each session begins with the Speech from the
Throne, when the governor general, or lieutenant governor in Ontario’s
case, reads the government’s new legislative program. Prorogation is a
mechanism for ensuring effective governing and government.
But prorogation can also be abused.
Prorogation is not a mechanism designed to afford the current government a political advantage in the exercise of power.
Yet, in recent years we have seen first ministers misuse the power of
prorogation to avoid confidence votes, delay reporting by officers of
parliament, escape questioning and scrutiny, and side-step
accountability for matters of public policy and administration.
Also troubling is that there are no clear timelines for when the legislature will be called back into session.
But there is something even more disconcerting afoot.
Across the country prime ministers and premiers are making it clear
that they see legislatures – our elected representatives – as an undue
burden. Whether as a means of managing legislative impasses or risks of
losing confidence or simply to escape scrutiny, first ministers have
demonstrated a predilection for simply shutting down the respective
legislative assemblies in their jurisdictions.
It is worth examining the premier’s own words in explaining the
prorogation. In an email sent to Liberal supporters McGuinty said: “I’ve
asked the Lieutenant Governor to prorogue the legislature to allow
those discussions with our labour partners and the opposition to occur
in an atmosphere that is free of the heightened rancour of politics in
the legislature…”
The “rancour” that Premier McGuinty is so dismissive of is an
essential dynamic of public accountability within our democratic system,
which sees partisan politics – institutionalized adversarialism – as
the best means of securing democracy.
These actions violate the basic premise of responsible government:
that the house or legislature, as the case may be, is actually in
session in order to fulfill its fundamental responsibilities: to review
government legislation, to scrutinize government administration and to
extend or withdraw confidence as it deems fit.
These developments should be disconcerting to us all.
---------------------------------------
*Mark D. Jarvis is a doctoral candidate at the University of
Victoria. His 2011 book, Democratizing the Constitution: Reforming
Responsible Government co-authored with Lori Turnbull and the late Peter
Aucoin, was awarded both the Donner and
Smiley book prizes. Mark adapted some of the book’s proposals for a
contribution to our series on the House last year. You can find more
information about the book here:
http://www.emp.ca/democratizing-the-constitution-reforming-responsible-government.html