New and Notable Titles: A selection of recent publications relating to parliamentary studies prepared with the assistance of the Library of Parliament (June'2020--August 2020).

• Date: 22 September 2020

Cameron, Scott. "Policy Forum--Independent platform costing--Balancing the interests of the public and parties." Canadian Tax Journal / Revue fiscale canadienne 68 (2): 491-504, 2020.

* This article provides an evaluation of the design of independent election platform costing in Canada, as established by the Parliament of Canada Act and the operating decisions of the parliamentary budget officer. The author compares the balance struck between serving the interests of the public and the interests of political parties in Canada with the balance struck in the Netherlands and Australia. Although Canada's legislation is tilted in favour of serving political parties, in practice the costing culture that evolved during the 2019 general election raised the level of debate and produced an amount of information comparable to what would be expected of a service designed to favour the public. The article concludes with a discussion of options for expanding the policy-costing service for future elections. Translation below

Chaplin, Steven. "The Attorney General Is Not the Legislature's Legal Advisor." Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law / Revue de droit parlementaire et politique 14 (1): 189, June/juin 2020.

* ... there is no circumstance under which an Attorney General should be considered the legal advisor to a legislature in this country. To so consider the office is to blur the separation of powers in Canada, and to undermine the independence of legislatures (including the House of Commons and the Senate) ...

Collignon, Sofia, Riidig, Wolfgang. "Harassment and intimidation of parliamentary candidates in the United Kingdom." The Political Quarterly 91 (2): 422-29, April-June 2020.

* The...