42nd Canadian Parliament

42nd Parliament of Canada
Majority parliament
December 3, 2015 – present
Parliament leaders
Prime
Minister
(cabinet)		 Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau
(29th Canadian Ministry)
4 November 2015 – present
Leader of the
Opposition		 Hon. Rona Ambrose
5 November 2015 – 27 May 2017
Andrew Scheer
27 May 2017 – present
Party caucuses
Government Liberal Party*
Opposition Conservative Party
Third parties New Democratic Party
Bloc Québécois†
Green Party†
* House members and Senators sit in separate caucuses.
† Party does not hold official party status.
House of Commons

Seating arrangements of the House of Commons
Speaker of the
Commons		 Hon. Geoff Regan
3 December 2015 – present
Government
House Leader		 Hon. Dominic LeBlanc
4 November 2015 – 19 August 2016
Hon. Bardish Chagger
19 August 2016 – present
Opposition
House Leader		 Andrew Scheer
18 November 2015 – 15 September 2016
Hon. Candice Bergen
15 September 2016 – present
Members 338 MP seats
List of members
Senate

Seating arrangements of the Senate
Speaker of the
Senate		 Hon. George Furey
3 December 2015 – present
Government
Senate Representative		 Hon. Peter Harder
18 March 2016 – present
Opposition
Senate Leader		 Hon. Claude Carignan
4 November 2015 – 31 March 2017
Hon. Larry Smith
1 April 2017 – present
Senators 105 senator seats
List of senators
Sovereign
Monarch HM Elizabeth II
6 February 1952 – present
Governor
General		 HE Rt. Hon. David Johnston
1 October 2010 – present
Sessions
1st Session
3 December 2015 – Present
<41st 43rd>

The 42nd Canadian Parliament is the current Parliament of Canada, with the membership of its Lower House, the House of Commons of Canada, having been determined by the results of the 2015 federal election held on October 19, 2015, and with at least seven new appointees to its Upper House, the Senate of Canada, on the Constitutional advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Governor General David Johnston.[1] Parliament officially resumed on December 3, 2015 with the election of a new Speaker, Geoff Regan, followed by a Speech from the Throne the following day. The current Speaker of the Senate of Canada is George Furey, who was appointed Speaker of the Canadian Senate on the Constitutional advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to replace Leo Housakos, on December 3, 2015.[2]

Party standings

Canada
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Canada
Government
Standings in the 42nd Canadian Parliament
Affiliation House Members Senate Members
2015 Election
Results		 As of 10 August 2017 On Election
Day 2015		 As of 16 May 2017
Liberal 184 183 – –
Conservative 99 98 47 38
New Democratic 44 44 – –
Bloc Québécois 10 10 – –
Green 1 1 – –
Senate Liberal Caucus – – 29 18
Independent – 1[3] 6 7
Independent Progressive Conservative – – 1 –
Independent Senators Group – – – 35
Total members 338 336 83 98
Vacant – 2 22 7
Total seats 338 105

Legislation

Among the more significant pieces of legislation adopted in the first session was the government's response to Carter v Canada (Attorney General). Bill C-14 inserted the term "medical assistance in dying" into the Criminal Code, and made provisions for adult Canadians to engage in the practice.[4] Introduced by the Minister of Justice, Bill C-14 was passed with a free vote for both Liberal and Conservative party members. The Minister of Justice also introduced Bill C-16 which added "gender identity or expression" to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act and the list of characteristics of identifiable groups protected from hate propaganda in the Criminal Code - only 40 members opposed the bill, all from the Conservative Party who were granted a free vote.

Bill C-37, sponsored by the Minister of Health and opposed only by the Conservative Party, removed some of the obstacles to supervised injection sites that the previous parliament's Respect for Communities Act had put in place and the bill adopted provisions, mostly centered on the opioid epidemic, to begin implementing the new Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy, which replaced the previous government's National Anti-Drug Strategy.[5] The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship's Bill C-6 amended or repealed parts of the previous parliament's Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act including the ability to revoke citizenship based on national security, the requirement that applicants for citizenship aged 14 to 18 and 55 to 64 to prove adequate knowledge Canada and of an official language, the residency requirement increase from 3 years to 4 years, the disallowance of time spent as temporary resident as contributing to the residency requirement, and the condition of citizenship that the applicant must intend to reside in Canada. Bill C-6 kept, but modified or expanded, Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act's prohibition that time spent imprisoned does not contribute to the residency requirement, that an imprisoned applicant may not be granted citizenship, and that citizenship applicants must file tax returns during their residency requirement. Both the Liberal and Conservative parties supported the adoption of Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Bill C-30) and all parties voted in favour of the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Bill C-31).

Regarding financial measures, Bill C-2 lowered federal tax paid on income between $45,283 and $90,563 from 22% to 20.5% and introduced a new top tax bracket that applies a rate of 33% to a person's income in excess of $200,000.[6] The bill also re-instated the $5,500 annual limit to Tax-Free Savings Account contributions which the previous parliament had raised to $10,000. Bill C-26 amended the Canada Pension Plan to create the Additional Canada Pension Plan Account and to increase the maximum level of pensionable earnings.

The 2016 budget (Bill C-15) repealed the Family Tax Cut (income splitting) Credit, Education Tax Credit, Textbook Tax Credit, Children's Arts Tax Credit, Child Fitness Tax Credit, and replaced the Canada Child Tax Benefit and Universal Child Care Benefit with the Canada Child Benefit. Eligibility for the Old Age Security pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement was rolled back to 65 years old; the previous parliament had increased it to 67. The rates for Northern Residents Deduction were increased, the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit was extended by one year, and employment insurance benefits were temporarily extended for high unemployment areas.

Both Bill C-11, which implemented the Marrakesh Treaty to allow reproductions of copyrighted material for the benefit of individuals who are blind or visually impaired,[7] and Bill C-13, which implemented the WTO's Bali Package, were adopted with unanimous consent. The Minister of Transport introduced Bill C-10which amended the Air Canada Public Participation Act to expand where Air Canada's maintenance centres may be located to the general provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, rather than the specific cities of Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montreal, as well as clarifying what constitutes 'maintenance'.

Among the senate bills that were adopted, the National Seal Products Day Act (Bill S-208) made May 20 of each year National Seal Products Day. The Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (Bill S-201) was adopted with the Conservative Party, NDP and Green Party in favour; Liberal Party members were granted a free vote though the prime-minister urged members to oppose the bill, as presented, based on concerns of inconsistency with the constitution.[8] The act makes it a criminal offence to require an individual to undergo a genetic test, or to disclose the results of such a test, as a condition of providing goods or services, with exceptions for health care practitioners and researchers.

Three private member bills had received royal assent with all party support:

Canadian Ministry

The 29th Canadian Ministry began with the 42nd Parliament and was sworn in by Gov. Gen. David Johnston on November 4, 2015. It was the first Cabinet of Canada to feature an equal number of men and women. Prime Minister Trudeau appointed Bill Morneau to be Minister of Finance, Jody Wilson-Raybould as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Jane Philpott as Minister of Health, Catherine McKenna as Minister of Environment and Climate Change, and Harjit Sajjan as Minister of National Defence. With the January 10, 2017, resignations of Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and Immigration Minister John McCallum, Trudeau moved Chrystia Freeland from Minister of International Trade to Foreign Affairs and promoted François-Philippe Champagne to International Trade, and Ahmed Hussen to Immigration. In that same cabinet shuffle MaryAnn Mihychuk was removed from cabinet and Karina Gould promoted to cabinet, with Patty Hajdu replacing Mihychuk as Minister of Employment, Workforce, and Labour, Maryam Monsef replacing Hajdu as Minister of Status of Women, and Gould becoming Minister of Democratic Institutions.

Members

For full lists of members of the 42nd Parliament of Canada, see List of House members of the 42nd Parliament of Canada and List of senators in the 42nd Parliament of Canada.

Officeholders

The current officers of Parliament during the 42nd Parliament are set out below.

Speakers

Other Chair occupants

Senate

House of Commons

Party Leaders

Floor leaders

Senate

House of Commons

Whips

Senate

House of Commons

Caucus Chairs

Shadow cabinets

Committees

Standing

Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics

Agriculture and Agri-Food

Canadian Heritage

Citizenship and Immigration

Environment and Sustainable Development

Finance

Fisheries and Oceans

Foreign Affairs and International Development

Government Operations and Estimates

Health

Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

Indigenous and Northern Affairs

Industry, Science and Technology

International Trade

Justice and Human Rights

National Defence

Natural Resources

Official Languages

Procedure and House Affairs

Public Accounts

Public Safety and National Security

Status of Women

Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

Veterans Affairs

Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament

Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations

Special

Electoral Reform

Pay Equity

Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying

Changes to party standings

House of Commons

Membership Changes

Membership changes in the House of Commons of the 42nd Parliament
Party Date Name District Reason
  October 19, 2015 See list of members Election day of the 2015 Canadian federal election
Independent May 31, 2016 Hon. Hunter Tootoo Nunavut Resigned from Liberal caucus[15]
Conservative November 16, 2016 Glen Motz Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner Won By-election; CPC Hold

The party standings in the House of Commons have changed as follows:

October 19, 2015 – present
Number of members
per party by date		 2015 2016 2017
Oct 19 Mar 23 May 31 Aug 16 Aug 26 Sep 23 Oct 24 Jan 31 Apr 3 Jul 4 Aug 9
Liberal 184 183 182 180 183
Conservative 99 98 97 96 97 99 98
New Democratic 44
Bloc Québécois 10
Green 1
Independent 0 1
  Total members 338 337 336 335 334 335 333 338 337 336
Government Majority 30 31 30 29 30 31 30 28 31 32 33
Vacant 0 1 2 3 4 3 5 0 1 2

By-elections

The following by-elections have been held during the 42nd Canadian Parliament:

By-election Date Incumbent Party Winner Party Cause Retained
Lac-Saint-Jean Must be announced by February 5, 2018 Denis Lebel      Conservative Resigned to accept a position in the private sector[16]
Sturgeon River—Parkland Must be announced by December 31, 2017 Rona Ambrose      Conservative Resigned to accept an academic appointment[17]
Saint-Laurent April 3, 2017 Stéphane Dion      Liberal Emmanuella Lambropoulos      Liberal Resigned to accept appointment as Canadian Ambassador to the European Union and to Germany Yes
Ottawa—Vanier April 3, 2017 Mauril Bélanger      Liberal Mona Fortier      Liberal Death (ALS) Yes
Markham—
Thornhill		 April 3, 2017 John McCallum      Liberal Mary Ng      Liberal Resigned to accept appointment as Canadian Ambassador to China Yes
Calgary Midnapore April 3, 2017 Jason Kenney      Conservative Stephanie Kusie      Conservative Resigned to seek the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta Yes
Calgary Heritage April 3, 2017 Stephen Harper      Conservative Bob Benzen      Conservative Resigned Yes
Medicine Hat—
Cardston—
Warner		 October 24, 2016 Jim Hillyer      Conservative Glen Motz      Conservative Death (heart attack) Yes
Results by riding. Different shading indicated party strength in the riding.

Senate

Political affiliation changes in the Senate of the 42nd Parliament
Party Date Name Province Reason
Non-affiliated December 3, 2016 Jacques Demers Quebec Resigned from Conservative caucus
Non-affiliated December 7, 2015 George Furey Newfoundland and Labrador Resigned from Senate Liberal caucus
Non-affiliated February 2, 2016 Pierrette Ringuette New Brunswick Resigned from Senate Liberal caucus
Non-affiliated February 17, 2016 Elaine McCoy Alberta Redesignated from Independent Progressive Conservative
Non-affiliated March 7, 2016 Michel Rivard Quebec Resigned from Conservative caucus
Non-affiliated March 8, 2016 Diane Bellemare Quebec Resigned from Conservative caucus
Non-affiliated April 6, 2016 Larry Campbell British Columbia Resigned from Senate Liberal caucus
Non-affiliated May 2, 2016 Grant Mitchell Alberta Resigned from Senate Liberal caucus
Non-affiliated May 5, 2016 Nick Sibbeston Northwest Territories Resigned from Senate Liberal caucus
Non-affiliated July 14, 2016 Doug Black Alberta Resigned from Conservative caucus
Conservative November 22, 2016 Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu Quebec Rejoined Conservative caucus

The party standings in the Senate have changed during the 42nd Canadian Parliament as follows:

Number of members
per party by date		 2015 2016
Oct 19 Nov 19 Dec 3 Dec 7 Feb 2 Feb 10 Feb 17 Mar 1 Mar 7 Mar 8 Mar 23 Apr 1 Apr 2 Apr 6 Apr 22 May 2 May 5 May 16 Jul 14 Aug 7 Sep 27
Conservative 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40
Non-affiliated 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 19 20 21 22 23 24 23
Senate Liberal Caucus 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21
Independent PC 1 0
Vacant 22 23 24 23 18 17 18 19 20 21
Number of members
per party by date		 2016 2017
Nov 10 Nov 21 Nov 22 Nov 25 Dec 2 Dec 6 Jan 6 Jan 14 Jan 22 Jan 31 Feb 1 Mar 30 Mar 31 May 10 May 16 Aug 10
Conservative 40 41 40 39 38 37
Independent Senators Group - 33 35 34 35
Senate Liberal Caucus 21 20 19 18
Non-affiliated 37 38 37 40 7 8 7 6 7
Vacant 7 6 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

References

  1. ↑ Joanna Smith (18 March 2016). "Justin Trudeau names seven new senators". Toronto Star. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Leslie Young (3 December 2015). "George Furey named new Speaker of the Senate". Global Television Network. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Former Liberal MP and Minister of Fisheries Hunter Tootoo
  4. ↑ Picard, Andre (September 13, 2016). "We can't debate the new law without data". The Globe and Mail. p. A13.
  5. ↑ Woo, Andrea (May 18, 2017). "Streamlined injection-site conditions become law". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  6. ↑ Curry, Bill (November 22, 2016). "Conservative senators move to rewrite the tax code". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  7. ↑ "CNIB applauds Government of Canada's push to ratify Marrakesh Treaty". CNIB. March 24, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  8. ↑ Kondro, Wayne (March 10, 2017). "Canada’s new genetic privacy law is causing huge headaches for Justin Trudeau". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Officers and Officials of Parliament". Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  10. ↑ "Officers and Officials of Parliament". Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  11. ↑ "Officers and Officials of Parliament". Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  12. ↑ "Officers and Officials of Parliament". Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  13. ↑ "Officers and Officials of Parliament". Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  14. ↑ "Officers and Officials of Parliament". Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  15. ↑ "Hunter Tootoo resigns as Fisheries minister, leaves Liberal caucus". CBC News. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  16. ↑ "Denis Lebel's departure to put Andrew Scheer's Conservative leadership to tough electoral test". CBC News. June 20, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  17. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rona-ambrose-conservative-mp-1.4116233
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