Canadian Politics 101: Understanding How Parliament Works

Welcome to Longform North -- a longform interview podcast featuring Canadian voices and stories about Canada.

The word parliament comes from a French word that means to talk or have a conversation. Though I think the impression a lot of people have about Canadian parliament is that there isn't much conversation going on there beyond prepared talking points.

But you might be surprised to hear that the parliamentary system, as far as systems of government go, is actually a pretty good one, and it organizes things in a way that kind of makes sense. Though that's not to say there aren't any ways it couldn't be improved.

So on this episode we're talking about the important things you should know about how Canadian parliament works, and some ideas about how it could be made better.

Joining me again to help out with this is Dr. Tom Bateman. He is a professor of political science at St Thomas University, and he is one of the co-authors of a book called _The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy,_ which is the main source and inspiration for this series of podcasts on Canadian democracy.

Some of the topics we discuss include:

• What 'responsible government' means in a parliamentary democracy and how it's different from the idea of the separation of powers
• How party discipline and whipped voting helps contribute to stability and predictability in government
• What happens when the government falls, or loses the confidence of the house
• Prorogation — looking at both Justin Trudeau's prorogation of the government in 2025, and the time Stephen Harper prorogued in 2008 when the opposition parties tried forming a coalition to defeat him
• The role of the opposition and how parliament is designed to be adversarial
• Why the decision to put video cameras in the House of Commons to record Question Period was a really stupid one
• How the office of the Prime Minister has accumulated too much power, and one simple way that could be reformed without having to pass any legislation

Links:

• Parliament: a definition
• The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy
• Dr. Tom MJ Bateman

*Note: This episode was recorded on January 6th, 2025, which happened to be the same day that Justin Trudeau announced his resignation and prorogued parliament.

For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com

Music by Aaron Barth

Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten