Legislation aimed at empowering individual members of parliament in the House of Commons was passed there on Feb. 25.
Wellington Halton-Hills MP Michael Chong, a long-time advocate of a stronger role for individual MPs, introduced the Reform Act in December of 2013. Last Wednesday, Chong thanked his colleagues on both sides of the House of Commons for their support of his private member’s bill, Bill C-586, the Reform Act, 2014. The Reform Act was adopted 260 to 17, with support from MPs in all parties.
However, Chong stressed the reforms are not yet a done deal. The Senate must pass the bill before the end of June, in order for it to become law.
“If the bill doesn’t pass in the Senate by end of June, it dies and it will be years before we will be able to introduce reforms like this to House of Commons,” Chong told the Advertiser in a telephone interview.
The MP is optimistic the upper house will do what is necessary to make the reforms happen.
“This bill is a democratic reform bill about the House of Commons and how it wants to organize caucuses and how it wants to elect its members, and I think the senate should respect the overwhelming majority in the house that has clearly pronounced on how it wishes to organize itself and pass the bill before the end of June.”
The Reform Act is an effort to strengthen Canada’s democratic institutions by strengthening the role of elected MPs in the House of Commons, stated a press release from Chong’s office. The proposals “will reinforce the principle of responsible government, by making the executive more accountable to the legislature and ensuring that party leaders are more accountable to elected MPs.
“I want to thank my colleagues for their hard work and contributions to this important legislation,” Chong stated. “That the Reform Act has gotten this far is a testament to the elected House of Commons and its ability to respond to Canadians’ desire for democratic reform.”
Since its introduction in 2013, the Reform Act has seen considerable debate and discussion. In April 2014, Chong introduced a revised version of the bill, Bill C-586, based on the feedback received from constituents and Canadians across the country. In January 2015, the Procedure and House Affairs Committee made further amendments providing political parties in the House of Commons flexibility to implement the new rules, while maintaining the principles of the original bill.
“The Reform Act has gotten this far because tens of thousands of Canadians contacted their MPs to express their support,” Chong said. “The Senate should review this bill and pass it into law before the end of June. Canadians are watching.”
The act, introduced by Chong, aims to strengthen the role of elected MPs, rather than having power concentrated in offices of the prime minister and party leaders.
If enacted, it would end the party leaders’ power to veto candidates that have been nominated by local party members in their riding associations.
In addition, MPs in the caucus, rather than the leader, would decide if any MP would be expelled or readmitted to the caucus.
It also recommends that caucus MPs elect their own caucus chair and that each party vote on these rules, following every election, in a recorded vote.
Even though the bill moves power from party leadership to rank and file MPs, Chong said he hasn’t felt any pressure from above to back off on his push for reform.
“I have to give a lot of credit to the prime minister, who gave me the latitude to not only have this debate, but introduce this bill. Not at any point did it feel that the party or the prime minister was trying to obstruct this bill,” he told the Advertiser.
“What I will say is when bill was originally introduced it met a lot of resistance from the various parties … change like this, that strikes at the balance of power in Ottawa, is especially not easy.”
However, Chong gave credit to all parties for “allowing their MPs to participate in this debate.”
Chong said passage of the Reform Act could eventually lead to additional measures to move power to the grassroots level.
“I think we need to do much more than this, but this is a very big step in the right direction and I think many other reforms will flow naturally from this, provided the Senate passes the bill by end of June.”
