House of commons.

• Author: Steenberg, Pat
• Position: Legislative Reports

In the wake of an election that saw one of the lowest voter turnouts in Canadian history, Members assembled in Ottawa to launch the Thirty-Eighth Parliament. In addition to confronting the challenges presented by a minority parliament, Canada's first in a quarter of a century, the new government faces heightened public expectations around the need to modernize and reform our political institutions. Initial steps were taken during the last Parliament, including provisional new procedures for Private Members' Business to ensure every Member at least one opportunity during the course of a Parliament to have a bill or motion voted on by the House. Those provisions will remain in force, again provisionally, until the end of June 2005, at which time a decision will be taken as to whether or not they are to be made permanent.

The Thirty-Eighth Parliament also saw the election of Steven Fletcher (Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia), the first quadriplegic federal Member of Parliament. Paralyzed at age 23 as the result of a car accident, the new Winnipeg area MP gets around using a motorized wheelchair operated by head movements. While all parliamentary buildings and grounds met federal and provincial accessibility standards, some modifications were required to meet Mr. Fletcher's specific needs. Similarly, a new standing order was adopted authorizing the Speaker to alter the application of any standing order or practice of the House to permit the full participation of any Member with a disability. In the Chamber, Mr. Fletcher sits in the front row near the Speaker, where a chair and fold-away table have been provided for his attendant. He uses a wireless headset to follow and speak during debate.

Opening of Parliament

On October 4th, Members gathered in the Chamber to elect their Speaker. In presiding over the election, the Dean of the House, Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg-Transcona, NDP), remarked that, back in 1985, as a member of the McGrath Committee on the Reform of the House that recommended the Dean serve this function, he could never have imagined that one day he would be the individual in question. Given that all of the other candidates rose to withdraw their names from the ballot, leaving only that of the incumbent Speaker, Peter Milliken (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.), Mr. Blaikie sought and received consent to forgo the balloting and related procedures and declare Mr. Milliken elected.

The next day, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, accompanied by her husband John Ralston Saul, arrived on Parliament Hill to deliver the Speech from the Throne. The speech outlined Prime Minister Paul Martin's policy agenda for the new session: health care, cities, child care, foreign relations, and institutional reform. Citing seven 'guiding principles'-fiscal discipline; the national interest; diversity; focus on results; the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; equality of opportunity; and global projection of Canadian interests and values--the Speech outlined a number of major policy initiatives...