Party discipline and Canadian Democracy - Essay Example

Is party discipline good or bad for Canadian Democracy? Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Party Discipline 4 Legislative Process 5 Stages in the Legislative Process 6 Party discipline good or bad for Canadian Democracy 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction Democracy can be regarded as the government that has the governing rule derived from the power of the people, in the form of representatives elected by the people. The foremost political institution of Canada is the Constitution. The Canadian politics function by representing the basic “rulebook”. This rulebook establishes the policy and philosophy by which an organization is governed. The Canadian constitution is referred as the government or national constitution. In such framework, the Canadian constitution establishes the policy and philosophy that governs the government operations and the political life in Canada. This basic policy and philosophy establishes the relationship between the state and the citizen and between parts of the state (Bickerton, “Freedom, equality, community: the political philosophy of six influential Canadians”). The Canadian government has a bicameral legislature form. The parliament is composed of The Senate (the Upper House) and The House of Commons or (the Lower House). The Senate represents the different regions, territories and provinces of Canada. The Upper House consists of 105 members also known as Senators. The House of Commons is composed of the representatives elected by the population. The House of Commons consists of 308 members. For formation of any law the bill need to be passed by the two legislative chambers. Party Discipline The party discipline in Canada is the influencing ability of the parliament group to gets its political party members to support the policies and philosophy of their party leadership. It is the controlling power that the party leader has over the legislature. Party discipline is vital for the overall working of the system of the government that permits holding of political power by the parties. It has the ability to establish government infrastructure that is affected by lawful political process (Kilgour, “Discipline versus Democracy: Party Discipline in Canadian Politics”). Few of the major current political parties present in the House of Commons are Conservative Party of Canada (founded in 2003), Liberal Party of Canada (founded in 1867), New Democratic Party (founded in 1961) and Bloc Quebecois (founded in 1991). Strong Party Discipline Strong party discipline is present in certain countries like UK, Canada, New Zealand, and many more. The legislature power is more in such countries which can even collapse the government by voting against the government. Weak Party Discipline Weak party discipline is not much observed in Canada. These parties give importance to the region from where they have been elected. They are more concerned about the particular area of interest and stress importance to that region over and above the national interest. Legislative Process The most important task that is carried out in the parliament is the law making. It follows a procedure in establishing a law. The bill has to go through various stages in the House of Commons and the Senate before it forms the law. The political party’s discipline will influence the bill to get it passed or not. The influencing power or the power of the party members in supporting the party leaders in issuing leads to establishment of acts. It is the influence that either the upper house or the House of Commons has over the establishment of the legislative (Brooks, “Understanding American Politics”). The government and the opposition attempts either to pass or defend a bill. The government may favor the bill while the opposition may voice against the bill. Debate is carried out in the House of Commons and even outside the house through active participation of media. Stages in the Legislative Process Introduction and first redoing of the bill is regarded as the first stage. At the outset, the bill is presented in the front of the members of the House of Commons for introduction. The second stage is to give a second reading and referral of bill to a committee. This gives an opportunity of debate of the topic. In this stage, the bill is referred to a committee, hoist amendment to bills, justify amendments to the bills and finally referral of subject matter of a bill to committee takes place (Parliament of Canada, “Legislative Process”). The next step is the third reading and adaptation of the bills. It is the point of decision to pass or reject the bill. Debate upon the final formation of the bill is focused in the legislative process. At last the bill is sent to the Senate with the message for requesting to consider the bill (Parliament of Canada, “Legislative Process”). Finally, the process is completed by the consideration of Senate. The same process is followed in the Senate as in House of Commons. If the bill gets passed without amendment the information is sent to the House of Commons and Royal Assent is normally approved soon (Parliament of Canada, “Legislative Process”). Party discipline good or bad for Canadian Democracy As per the democracy of the Canadian Constitution and the procedures that is present in Canada, the presence of party discipline is essentially required. Without the party discipline, it is not possible to manage the issues that decide the structuring of the society and the frame work for the application of the rules and regulations. Party discipline is a vital activity and practice, in the Canadian political system that forces chosen members of parliament to make expected and firm verdict. It increases the overall efficiency of the democratic process. The party discipline is also important as because the politician make verdicts or decides upon the guidelines that has been set up by their political parties. Without such guidelines, the members might follow the expected framework, and politicians are free to choose whichever way they might prefer. In such case, the support of the member is in a doubt. To secure the systematic procedure, party discipline is important in democratic country like Canada. Conclusion The party discipline is imperative and need to be presented in the rule of a democratic country. Many authors have given views against this party discipline as it forces the members to support the policies and philosophy of the party’s leadership. But this is not applicable in democratic country as it is not possible for the members to support to other leaders leaving their own party. The system is so build to increase the efficiency of the working of the parliament. References Bickerton, J. & Et. Al. Freedom, equality, community: the political philosophy of six influential Canadians. McGill-Queens Press - MQUP, 2006. Brooks, S. Understanding American Politics. University of Toronto Press, 2009. Kilgour, D. & Et. Al. “Discipline versus Democracy: Party Discipline in Canadian Politics”. July 31, 2010. Member of Parliament Edmonton-Beaumony, 2010. < http://www.david-kilgour.com/mp/discipline.htm> Parliament of Canada. “Legislative Process”. July 31, 2010. House of Commons, 2010. < http://www.parl.gc.ca/compendium/web-content/c_g_legislativeprocess-e.htm> Read More