Please note that the Law Library will be closed next Monday, July 3 to recognize the July 1 Canada Day holiday. Full details of our hours of operation are available here.
British Columbia Election 2017 – Parliamentary Conventions (updated July 1)
Much is being written and discussed in the local and national news and social media about the final results (see Elections BC) of the 2017 BC provincial general election: Liberals 43 seats, NDP 41, Greens 3. Christy Clark was Premier as her party won the most seats, 43 out of 87, but with the NDP-Green agreement inked and signed, her government could, and did, lose on a confidence vote in the Legislature. By convention, only certain pieces of legislation, the Throne Speech and budgets, can have confidence motions and therefore votes, attached to them.
All elected MLA’ s were sworn in the week of June 5th. Cabinet was sworn in June 12. The Premier stated in her May 30 press conference “we have a duty to meet the house and test its confidence.” She acknowledged her party will likely not last long. Pundits predict her government will fail on either the throne speech or a budget bill (which must be tabled and passed no later than September). B.C.’s Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon will then have the option of calling an election or asking NDP leader John Horgan to form a minority government.
The Legislative Assembly, 1st session of the 41st Parliament, sat June 22, for the election of a speaker (Steve Thomson, Kelowna-Mission who as of June 29 is no longer speaker) and the reading of the Speech from the Throne. On June 26 the liberal government introduced two bills which were negatived on motion (did not pass first reading) and will not be part of the official record. The NDP also introduced the confidence motion on the throne speech. On June 29, the Legislative Assembly sat for the vote on the confidence motion. The Liberal government was defeated, thus the lost confidence. Premier Clark then tendered her resignation to the the Lieutenant Governor and asked for the house to be dissolved, which would have triggered an election. The only other option available was to give the NDP the opportunity to govern. The Lieutenant Governor upon the advice of experts and in keeping with convention, asked John Horgan if he had the confidence of the house to form government. His reply – yes.
Sources are available that discuss conventions, confidence motions, the conduct of legislative assemblies, the duties of the Lieutenant-Governor, or minority governments. Below is a select list of sources including legal treatises, parliamentary procedure handbooks, news media, and journals. Feel free to contact lawref@uvic.ca about these and other sources.
Andrew Heard, Canadian Constitutional Conventions: the Marriage of Law and Politics (Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada, 1991) Law Library KF4482 H43
D. Michael Jackson and Philippe Lagassé, Canada and the Crown : Essays on Constitutional Monarchy (Montréal : McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013. McPherson Library JL15 C35
Frank Cranmer & Sir William McKay, Erskine May’s treatise on the law, privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament, 23rd ed. (London: LexisNexis, 2004) Law Library KD4354 A5M39 2004
Canada. Parliament., House of Commons. Special Committee on Reform of the House of Commons. Report of the Special Committee on Reform of the House of Commons. (Ottawa: Queens Printer, 1985). Law Library KF4483 L4C3565 1985
Alistair Fraser, William Foster Dawson, & Holtby, John A., Beauchesne’s Rules and Forms of the House of Commons of Canada, with Annotations, Comments and Precedents (Toronto: Carswell, 1989). Law Library Reference KF4483 R8C36 1989.
Marc Bosc and Audrey O’Brien, House of Commons Procedure and Practice, 2nd ed, (Ottawa: House of Commons, 2009) Online and McPherson Library Reference, JL164 C26 2009.
Standing Orders of the House of Commons, Including the Conflict of Interest code for Members (Ottawa : Publishing and Depository Services, 2010). Online
Peter W. Hogg, Constitutional Law of Canada, 5th ed. suppl. (Scarborough, Ont. : Thomson Carswell, c2006). Law Library Reserve KE4219 H63 2006
E. George MacMinn, Parliamentary Practice in British Columbia, 4th ed. (Victoria : Queen’s Printer, 2008). Law Library Reference KEB470 A33M33 2008.
Ronald I. Cheffins, Constitutional Process in Canada, (Toronto, McGraw Hill, 1989) Law Library KF4482 C5
Library catalogue subject keyword searches:
” Parliamentary Practice Canada ” or ” Parliament Rules and Practice” and Canada or Great Britain
News Sources: Globe and Mail, National Post, Times Colonist, Tyee.
Select Journals:
Canadian Parliamentary Review, free online
Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law (Westlaw)
Review of Constitutional Studies (Library e-journal, print also available)
Post originally written June 22, updated July 1.
EU at 60!
March 25, 2017, marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) . Over the past 60 years the six-member state EEC has gradually evolved into the, now, 27-member state European Union, EU
Originally posted at the UVic Libraries Government Information blog.
Pay down your library fines with food donations
Food for Fines: Is an annual food drive put on by UVic Libraries and Campus Security Services (CSS). Each year UVic Libraries offers relief from library fines in exchange for non-perishable food items or personal needs items which are then donated to the Mustard Seed Food Bank and the UVic Student Society’s Food Bank.
How it works: For every non-perishable food item or personal item, like toothbrushes or soap, we will take $2 off your fines up to $20. You can also ‘pay’ for your fines, but ask that up to $20 of your fines be donated to the food banks instead of the libraries. Even if you don’t have any fines, we encourage on campus and off campus donations to help fill local food bank shelves.
When and where: The Food for Fines drive runs from November 21 until December 9th. Donations can be dropped off at any library branch.
Remembrance Day Closure
Please note that the Law Library will be closed this Friday (November 11) for Remembrance Day. Full details of our hours of operation are available here.
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) – new database
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) issued its final report in 1996. Much of the material collected by the commissioners during the inquiry was made available to the public on a cd-rom product titled For Seven Generations (kept available at UVIc Libraries on a virtual workstation). As required by the OIC establishing RCAP, the material gathered by the commissioners was transferred to the National Library (now Library and Archives Canada, LAC).
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Libraries and Archives Canada has created a new database containing digitized content of the material gathered by the RCAP commissioners and transferred to LAC.
See LAC’s blog post https://thediscoverblog.com/ for more information on the digitization project, methodology and scope.
According to LAC, “the database provides access to documents, such as intervenor project submissions, publications, research reports and hearing transcripts that supported the writing of the report of the RCAP”.
Access RCAP database here:
Thanksgiving Day Closure
Please note that the Law Library will be closed next Monday October 10 (Thanksgiving). Full details of our hours of operation are available here.
Law Library Open House – Come on in!
Join us for our Law Library Open House this Wednesday (September 21) from 12:00 – 1:30 pm!
1Ls, upper year students and faculty – come chat with librarians and staff from across UVic libraries and the Amicus team while enjoying light snacks and refreshments.
- Discover the wide array of services and resources offered in the UVic Libraries
- Find out what your librarian can do for you
- Configure your laptop for wireless printing on campus and for seamless research off-campus
- Plus much more …
1Ls – this will also be an opportunity to pick up your passwords for Lexis Advance Quicklaw and WestlawNext Canada legal research databases.
The Library Open House is open to all students and faculty.
Snacks and refreshments will be provided!