Last week we released the introductory report of Canada's first-ever series of exit interviews with former Members of Parliament. Our goal is ultimately to encourage a greater understanding of Canada's public life, draw attention to things that are working well and contribute to a constructive discussion on what can be improved. In that spirit, we were happy that the report generated some good d... [More]

Andrew Potter reacts to one MP's recent proposal to change Question Period, using it as an opportunity to elaborate on reasons for the relative weakness of our legislature branch when compared to the executive (i.e., the PM and cabinet). His reasons include: Low quality MPs, and too few of them The size of the country, whose associated travel and lifestyle demands makes it hard to attract com... [More]

I added my two cents to the discussion, started here by Alan Broadbent and reinforced here by Andrew Potter, that argued that more MPs would help "reclaim the House of Commons" and "make for more accountable government."  By enlarging the size of party caucuses, so the argument goes, we'd both loosen the grip of the Prime Minister and create more safe seats.  The prior would allow for m... [More]

Rumours to the contrary aside, if March is any indication, there is good reason to believe that philosophy is alive and well in modern life. Today, Paul Saurette encourages us to reflect, in light of Ann Coulter's recently-thwarted attempt to address a crowd in Ottawa, on the appropriate justifications for limiting free speech in Canada.  His plea for a "thoughtful and nuanced consideration... [More]

Over at the Ottawa Citizen's politics blog, Andrew Potter correctly identifies that Canada has a less homogeneous political class than other countries and wonders if that lack of a political class, which leaves Canada's parliament full of relative amateurs, is a problem. It's a good question. First, a few facts. To begin, we'll borrow from Ned Franks again, who shows here that, on average bet... [More]