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Majority parliament June 2, 2011 – present |
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| Prime Minister |
Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper | ||||||||||||||||||
| February 6, 2006 – present | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition |
Hon. Jack Layton | ||||||||||||||||||
| May 2, 2011 - August 22, 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nycole Turmel | |||||||||||||||||||
| August 23, 2011 - present | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Government | Conservative Party | ||||||||||||||||||
| Opposition | New Democratic Party | ||||||||||||||||||
| Third Party | Liberal Party | ||||||||||||||||||
| Fourth Party | Bloc Québécois* | ||||||||||||||||||
| Fifth Party | Green Party* | ||||||||||||||||||
| * Party does not hold official party status. | |||||||||||||||||||
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Seating arrangements of the House of Commons |
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| Speaker of the Commons |
Hon. Andrew Scheer | ||||||||||||||||||
| June 2, 2011 - present | |||||||||||||||||||
| Government House Leader |
Hon. Peter Van Loan | ||||||||||||||||||
| May 18, 2011 - present | |||||||||||||||||||
| Opposition House Leader |
Thomas Mulcair | ||||||||||||||||||
| May 26, 2011 - present[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
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Seating arrangements of the Senate |
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| Speaker of the Senate |
Hon. Noël A. Kinsella | ||||||||||||||||||
| February 8, 2006 – present | |||||||||||||||||||
| Government Senate Leader |
Hon. Marjory LeBreton | ||||||||||||||||||
| February 6, 2006 – present | |||||||||||||||||||
| Opposition Senate Leader |
Hon. Jim Cowan | ||||||||||||||||||
| November 3, 2008 – present | |||||||||||||||||||
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The 41st Canadian Parliament is the current Parliament of Canada, with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 2011 federal election held on May 2, 2011. Parliament convened on June 2, 2011 with the election of Andrew Scheer as Speaker, followed the next day with the Speech from the Throne.
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| Canada |
This article is part of the series: |
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Current Parliament (41st) Canadian federalism Executive Councils General
Regions |
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Other countries · Atlas |
The party standings as of the election and as of March 13, 2012 were as follows:
| Affiliation | House Members | Senate Members | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 Election Results |
As of December 5, 2011 |
On Election Day 2011[2] |
As of December 17, 2011 |
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| Conservative | 166 | 165 | 52 | 54 | |
| New Democrat | 103 | 102 | 0 | 0 | |
| Liberal | 34 | 34 | 46 | 41 | |
| Bloc Québécois | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Green | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Progressive Conservative | 0 | 0 | 2[3] | 1[4] | |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 2[5] | 2[5] | |
| Independent Civil Libertarian | 0 | 1[6] | 0 | 0 | |
| Total members | 308 | 307 | 102 | 98 | |
| Vacant | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | |
| Total seats | 308 | 105 | |||
In the parliament's first session, the House of Commons met for 14 days in June, between the end of election and before the summer recess, and 6 bills were given royal assent, all on June 26. The Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act (Bill C-6) was adopted despite 58 hours of continuous debate.[7] The 2011 Canadian federal budget was quickly passed and while only the Conservatives voted in favour of the appropriation acts, the Bloc Québécois and Green Party joined them in voting in favour of the budget implementation bill Supporting Vulnerable Seniors and Strengthening Canada's Economy Act (Bill C-3) which enacted several spending measures promised in the budget, such as increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplements for seniors.[8] The Fair and Efficient Criminal Trials Act (Bill C-2) authorizing federal judges to hear all pretrial motions at once during mega-trials, was introduced on June 13 and was supported by the Conservative, New Democratic and Liberal parties.[9]
When the parliament re-convened in September, the Minister of Justice introduced the Safe Streets and Communities Act (Bill C-10), an omnibus bill of nine separate measures. Among the measures include replacing the pardon system with 'record suspensions', mandatory minimum sentences and/or penalties for certain drug and sexual offences, increasing prison sentences for marijuana offences, making it illegal to make sexually explicit information available to a child, reducing the ability of judges to sentence certain offenders to house arrest, allowing immigration officers to deny work permits to foreigners who are at risk of being sexually exploited, and enabling Canadians to sue state sponsors of terrorism for losses due to an act of terrorism.[10][11] The bill was reviewed by the 'Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights' throughout October and November, chaired by Oxford MP Dave MacKenzie and passed by the House of Commons on December 5, 2011.
On September 29 the Minister of Industry introduced the Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-11) — the same bill that was introduced in the 3rd session of the previous parliament and referred to the 'Legislative Committee on Bill C-32'. The bill is first major copyright reform since 1997 and brings Canadian copyright laws in line with modern digital rights management[12][13] However, the proposed law was criticized as "irredeemably flawed"[14] due to a contradiction between consumer rights and digital locks, American interference, a requirement for students to destroy copyrighted digital content after a course ends, and makes notice and notice mandatory for all ISPs, including disclosing the identity and activity of customers suspected of copyright infringement.[14]
The Minister of Agriculture introduced the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act (Bill C-18) which repealed the Canadian Wheat Board Act, eliminating the requirement for farmers to sell wheat and barley produce to the Canadian Wheat Board. The new act also appoints a new board of directors that must either privatize or dismantle the wheat board.[15] The bill was studied by the 'Legislative Committee on Bill C-18' chaired by Wetaskiwin MP Blaine Calkins between October 31 and November 4. The bill was subject to a lawsuit by the wheat board's existing board of directors claiming that the government cannot change the mandate of the wheat board without the consent of its members[16] and a counter-suit which sought to prevent the board of directors from using wheat board revenue for legal action against the government.[17] A federal trial court decided that for the bill to be legal the government required the consent of the affected farmers, via a vote or plebiscite, as provided for in the 1998 Canadian Wheat Board Act, although that case is in appeal as of December 2011[update].[18] Nevertheless, on November 28, the bill was passed by the House of Commons, with only the Conservative Party voting in favour. The bill was reviewed by the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry in December and passed by the Senate on December 15, 2011. Despite the ruling of the judicial branch, Governor General David Johnston gave royal assent to the bill on the same day.[19]
The Minister of Public Safety introduced the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act (Bill C-19) which amended the Criminal Code of Canada and the Firearms Act to remove the requirement to register firearms that are neither prohibited nor restricted and requires that the existing records relating to non-restricted firearms in the Canadian Firearms Registry be destroyed.[20] The registration of long guns had been a divisive issue since its inception in 1995.[21] The bill was introduce on October 25 and reviewed by the 'Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security' throughout November, chaired by Crowfoot MP Kevin Sorenson.
On May 18, 2011, two weeks after the election, Prime-Minister Harper made appointments to the Senate and the 28th Canadian Ministry. To the Senate Harper appointed Fabian Manning, Larry Smith, and Josée Verner, all of whom were defeated Conservative Party candidates in the general election. Manning and Smith had resigned from the Senate to run in the election and they became the first Senators to be reappointed to the Senate since John Carling in April 1896.[22]
Harper largely kept the same cabinet as before the election, but had lost five ministers to retirement or defeat. In the May 18 cabinet shuffle he promoted Steven Blaney, Ed Fast, Joe Oliver, Peter Penashue to ministerial positions, as well as promoting Denis Lebel and Julian Fantino from Minister of State roles to ministerial positions. He also promoted Bernard Valcourt, Tim Uppal, Alice Wong, Bal Gosal, and Maxime Bernier to Minister of State roles, replacing the two who had been promoted to Minister, one who had been defeated in the election, and Rob Merrifield and Rob Moore who were demoted.[22]
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