Category: Canada

Anything related to Canada or Canadians

The powers of Canada’s prime minister

Remarkably, this (microfilm copy of) a memorandum prepared in October 1935 by the Privy Council Office is the closest thing Canada has to written constitutional text on the role of the prime minister:

The Committee of the Privy Council, on the recommendation of the Right Honourable W.L. Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister, submit the following Memorandum regarding certain of the functions of the Prime Minister,-

  1. A Meeting of a Committee of the Privy Council is at the call of the Prime Minister and, in his absence, of that of the senior Privy Councillor, if the President of the Council be absent;
  2. The quorum of the Council being four, no submission, for approval to the Governor General, can be made with a less number than the quorum;
  3. A Minister cannot make recommendations to Council affecting the discipline of the Department of another Minister;
  4. The following recommendations are the special prerogative of the Prime Minister:

Dissolution and Convocation of Parliament:

Appointment of –

Privy Councillors;

Cabinet Ministers

Lieutenant Governors;

(including leave of absence to same);

Provincial Administrators;

Speaker of the Senate;

Chief Justices of all Courts;

Senators;

SubCommittees of Council;

Treasury Board;

Committee of Internal Economy, House of Commons;

Deputy Heads of Departments;

Librarians of Parliament;

Crown Appointments in both Houses of Parliament

Governor General’s Secretary Staff;

Recommendations in any Department.

The council advice that this Minute be issued under the Privy Seal, and that a certified copy thereof be attached, under the Great Seal of Canada, to the Commission of each Minister.

All which is respectfully submitted for Your Excellency’s approval.

The note was scanned by James W.J. Bowden.

The prime minister is not mentioned in the Constitution Act, 1982, though section VI enumerates the powers of parliament.

See also: Smiley, Donald. Canada in Question: Federalism in the Eighties. 1980. p. 17 (hardcover)

Donald Smiley’s methodology

“The third edition of Canada in Question is somewhat shorter on self-indulgent polemic than was its immediate predecessor. This does not mean that I have become a convert to the cause of “value-free political science” for, despite prolonged and diligent efforts to do so, I have never been able to understand how the analysis of significant political events could be neutral about values. (xi)

What criterion do we use to judge the relative validity of two or more contradictory explanations of the same phenomenon? Where complex matters are involved – such as the influence of Government on Society, or whether political institutions have an independent effect in determining the pattern of political cleavages – the only defensible test is, I think, plausibility. This test is by scientific standards inadequate, but it is the best we have. Rigorously scientific knowledge proceeds by separating out variables… Students of politics can seldom use such devices. (6)

– Smiley, Donald. Canada in Question: Federalism in the Eighties. 1980.

Many meetings

Today I had the extremely good fortune to speak for more than an hour with Peter Russell – one of Canada’s leading constitutional experts – about my forthcoming comp.

Tomorrow, I am meeting with Rod Haddow. Wednesday, with Graham White and Peter Loewen.

Because Robarts library is open late, I was able to pick up a book Dr. Russell recommended, and which I should be able to get well into before I go to sleep.

While there is doubtless a lot of stress and some tedium, there are certainly elements of the life of the grad student which are satisfying, and which could not be replicated elsewhere.

Open thread: drilling for oil and gas in the arctic

Unfortunately, the climate-change-induced melting of the north polar icecap is making it easier to drill for oil and gas in the arctic. Large amounts of fossil fuels are expected to be found in the region, adding to the world’s already dangerously large supplies.

The enthusiasm of companies and governments to exploit unconventional sources of fossil fuels is starkly at odds with the reality that we can only control climate change if we choose not to exploit such reserves – while rapidly scaling back production of conventional oil, gas, and coal.

Re-comp preparation

There are now 17 days left before my Canadian politics re-comp.

Studying involves many distinct tasks, but one big one is working on outlines for responses to likely questions, as well as listing sources to use in answers.

Going back through more than 10 years of exams, I have found that there are a few questions that come up exceptionally often, with minor variations in wording. Having the outline of an answer for each is probably a good strategy:

  • Making reference to specific subfields of the discipline, discuss whether Canadian political science is more in need of research on topics on which the literature is sparse, or of research which builds on and expands existing literature. (Asked 7 times)
  • Making reference to specific subfields of the discipline, discuss why the literature on certain elements of Canadian politics makes substantial use of conceptual-theoretical perspectives, whereas the literature on other elements of Canadian politics is largely atheoretical. (8 times)
  • It has been said that “the world needs more Canada”. Can this be said of Canadian Political Science? Are there conceptual frameworks or empirical findings from the study of Canadian politics that could usefully be applied to other polities? (3 times)
  • Is the ‘democratic deficit’ in Canada growing or contracting? (8 times)
  • “The term ‘identity politics’ is fairly recent, but the substance of what identity politics entails has long been a central concern of Canadian political science.” Discuss. (5 times)
  • “For all the talk of the pervasive and pernicious effects of neo-liberalism on Canadian politics, policy and governance, its actual influence has been relatively modest.” Discuss. (3 times)

The exam consists of 3 essays, chosen from a larger array (usually at least 9). Usually, the possible topics are broken up into sections, and students must choose one from each section.

Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie

Yesterday, I was part of a panel discussion and film screening at Hart House. They showed Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie, which I found to be ambitious and engaging. It combines footage from Suzuki’s 75th birthday lecture with a biography of his life, including his family’s internment by the British Columbia authorities during world war two, his work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, his biological research at the University of British Columbia, as well as his activism and personal life.

The film involved a great deal of travel and one-on-one time with Suzuki, as they visited most of the important places in his life. It was also skilfully mixed with archival footage, though a bit of it may have been misleading (notably, the cut from the Hiroshima atomic explosion to footage of the totally unrelated Castle Bravo thermonuclear test, and the footage of the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant at Oak Ridge, which had nothing to do with Suzuki’s biological research at Oak Ridge).

All told, I definitely recommend seeing the film if you get the chance. It says very little about precisely what should be done to address the world’s environmental problems, but rather a great deal about why we ought to be making the effort.

Canada not on track to meet its (inadequate) climate targets

In the news today:

Canada won’t come close to meeting emissions target: Environment Canada

…

The latest internal government report confirms Canada is not close to being on track to meet its promised target for emissions cuts by the year 2020.

In fact, the Environment Canada analysis released Thursday indicates the country slipped backward in 2012 in terms of achieving the government’s greenhouse gas emissions target under the Copenhagen Accord.

Under that international agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed in 2009 to cutting Canada’s emissions 17 per cent from 2005 levels by the year 2020.

…

Even with long-overdue government regulations on the oil and gas sector, which have not yet been announced, Environment Canada doesn’t foresee a scenario where the 2020 target will be met.

Previously: Can Canada meet the Conservative GHG targets?

New carbon infrastructure in B.C.

British Columbia has a carbon tax, but it doesn’t seem to be taking to heart the need to stop building new infrastructure for the carbon economy:

B.C.’s north is in a frenzy of planning. There are applications for port expansions, coal and mineral mines, oil terminals, pipelines, synthetic fuel plants, liquefied natural gas facilities and hundreds of new drill rigs for shale gas extraction. Pinned on a map, the proposals create a porcupine of industrial intentions.

Hopefully, growing awareness about how wasteful and destructive it would be to build these things will keep it from actually happening.

From MaddAddam

The people in the chaos cannot learn. They cannot understand what they are doing to the sea and the sky and the plants and the animals. They cannot understand that they are killing them, and that they will end by killing themselves. And there are so many of them, and each one of them is doing part of the killing, whether they know it or not. And when you tell them to stop, they don’t hear you.

So there is only one thing left to do. Either most of them must be cleared away while there is still an earth, with trees and flowers and birds and fish and so on, or all must die when there are none of those things left. Because if there are none of those things left, then there will be nothing at all. Not even any people.

So shouldn’t you give those ones a second chance? he asked himself. No, he answered, because they have had a second chance. They have had many second chances. Now is the time.

Atwood, Margaret. MaddAddam. 2013. p. 291 (hardcover)