Foreword

• Author: Gregory Tardi, DJur
• Profession: Editor, Understanding Canada series
• Pages: 7-9

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Foreword

In its 2005 ruling entitled Canada (House of Commons) v Vaid, the Supreme Court of Canada qualiied the House of Commons as “the grand inquest of the nation” and indicated that it had unquestioningly pre-eminent importance in the public life of the country. What do these high-sounding labels really entail? As residents of Ottawa walk in front of Parliament Hill to admire the architecture, or as other Canadians see the Parliament buildings from afar on their nightly newscasts, they are surely tempted to pose searching questions. What really goes on there? Who writes the laws and how? What role does politics play in contributing to the good governance of the country? How is the House of Commons the focus of Canadian democracy?

In this book, Rob Walsh provides the necessary answers to such inquiries. He comprehensively sets out the fundamentals of the origins, evolution, and especially the current functioning of the institution that is the central pillar of government and politics in Canada. An initial group of three chapters entitled Introduction; he Making of the Parliamentary System; and Canada’s Parliament introduces the reader to the history and the modern foundations of the Canadian version of democratic parliamentarianism. he constitutional and legal forces are explained in the next three chapters:

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THE HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA

Separation of Powers; Constitutional Functions; and Parliamentary Privilege. here follow another three chapters dealing with the internal functioning of the House of Commons: House Proceedings; Committees; and Administration. What results is a complete and thorough portrait of the House of Commons, its mechanisms, and its internal workings.

Whether one labels the House of Commons as the grand inquest of the nation, or details its tasks as legislation, deliberation, and the holding of government to account, this is the most important forum for the democratic discussion of public afairs. It combines constitutionalism, the rule of law, the adoption of legislation, the setting for the deinition of the public interest and public policy, party politics, and regional interests, along with accountability and holding the government to account. No Canadian can, in good conscience, remain unfamiliar with this institution.

In modern-day Canada, physical access to the House of Commons is diicult. Most Canadians live outside the range of easy travel to see it functioning...