Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, probably the most ethical MP in the HoC recently corrected Mr Scheer as have numerous academics who have knowledge of the subject.
She said Scheer is knowingly "misleading" Canadians about the country's parliamentary traditions.
"The convention is quite the opposite of what Mr. Scheer is telling people. I'm not advocating it. I'm explaining what the rules are. The convention is the party that held power before the election has first crack at seeing if they can hold the confidence of the House ... Mr. Trudeau, gets first crack at it," she said. "We elect 338 MPs and they have a right to decide who should form government at the end of an election."
In Canada's system of Westminster parliamentary democracy, the prime minister and the cabinet must answer to the House of Commons and they must enjoy the support and the confidence of a majority of the members of the chamber to remain in office.
It is instructive to examine the recent
history of the New Zealand Parliament where they have had
stable minority governments since 1996 when they switched
to a Mixed Member system of electing their government.
They have in fact had a coalition
(there is that word that our current leaders of all stripes have been
studiously avoiding) government of one sort or another continuously
ever since. For those readers who are not familiar with the NZ
parliamentary system I will simply say that it is a Westminster
System based upon the UK tradition, the same as ours is, with the
proviso that their native Māori population have had some reserved
seats since the mid 1800s.
Seems like they are WAY ahead of us and
both our parliamentarians and the general population should be taking
note as this pivotal moment in our governance arrives.
A few more details of their system
follow, will we ever adopt such a system …. not anytime soon the
way things are going but I suspect that we are about to get a taste
of coalition governance whether we are ready for it or not. Let the
games begin.......
New Zealand Parliament
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Parliament
| Mixed-member proportional (MMP) era | ||
| 45th Parliament | 1996 election | Fourth National (in coalition) |
| 46th Parliament | 1999 election | Fifth Labour (in coalition) |
| 47th Parliament | 2002 election | |
| 48th Parliament | 2005 election | |
| 49th Parliament | 2008 election | Fifth National (in coalition) |
| 50th Parliament | 2011 election | |
| 51st Parliament | 2014 election | |
| 52nd Parliament | 2017 election | Sixth Labour (in coalition) |
The New Zealand Parliament was
established in 1854 and is one of the oldest continuously functioning
legislatures in the world. The New Zealand Parliament is consciously
modelled on the Westminster system of parliamentary representation,
developed in the United Kingdom.
New Zealand had representatives of the
indigenous population in its parliament from an early date. Reserved
Māori seats were created in 1867 during the term of the 4th
Parliament; Māori men aged 21 and over, whether or not they owned
property, could vote to elect four Māori members of the House of
Representatives
A member of Parliament is a member of
the House of Representatives, which has a minimum of 120 members,
elected at a general election for a three-year term. There are 70
electorate MPs, of which seven are elected only by Māori who have
chosen to be registered on a separate Māori electoral roll. The
remaining members are elected by proportional representation from
published party lists.
Finally for those who may be still
considering voting for a Conservative representative I offer the
following links that highlight the mindset of such people as shown by
past and current 'leaders' within those partys.
