Quebec.

AuthorTurcot, Christina
PositionASSEMBLEE NATIONALE

By-elections, parliamentary offices and composition of the Assembly

The candidates elected in the by-elections of December 9, 2013 in the electoral divisions of Outremont and Viau made their official entry into the House at the resumption of parliamentary proceedings on February 11 2014. For Philippe Couillard, the new Member for Outremont and Leader of the Official Opposition, this is a return to the Assembly; he sat in the House from 2003 to 2008. The new Member for Viau is David Heurtel. Jean-Marc Fournier, who held the office of Leader of the Official Opposition until the election of Mr. Couillard, is now Chief Opposition Whip.

The Member for La Piniere, Fatima Houda-Pepin, left the Official Opposition on January 20 and now sits as an independent Member. The new composition of the Assembly is as follows: 54 Members of the Parti Quebecois (Government), 49 Members of the Quebec Liberal Party (Official Opposition), 18 Members of the Coalition avenir Quebec (Second Opposition Group) and 4 independent Members (2 under the banner of Quebec Solidaire and 2 without any party affiliation).

Rulings: Confidence of the Assembly in the Government

On November 7, 2013 just before the introduction of Bill 60, Charter affirming the values of State secularism and religious neutrality and of equality between women and men, and providing a framework for accommodation requests, the Government House Leader declared in the House that the vote on the motion to introduce this bill in the Assembly raised a question of confidence in the Government. The Official Opposition House Leader then asked for a directive on the possibility for the confidence of the Assembly in the Government to be raised at this stage of the legislative process when the content of the bill has not yet been made public. The President recalled that it is for the Government to determine whether or not it has the confidence of the House and that, for this purpose, it may invoke Standing Order 303.1(5) with regard to any motion. This provision of the Standing Orders states that the confidence of the Assembly in the Government may be raised only by means of a vote on any motion that the Premier, or her representative, shall have expressly declared a question of confidence in the Government.

Extraordinary sitting

On December 9, 2013, the Assembly held an extraordinary sitting to complete the examination of Bill 70, An Act to amend the Mining Act, in accordance with the rules established by the...

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