41st Canadian Parliament

41st Parliament of Canada Majority parliament   June 2, 2011 – present
Parliament leaders
Prime Minister	Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper
	February 6, 2006 – present
Leader of the Opposition	Hon. Jack Layton
	May 2, 2011 – August 22, 2011
	Nycole Turmel
	August 23, 2011 – March 23, 2012
	Thomas Mulcair
	March 24, 2012 – present
Party standings in the Commons
Government	Conservative Party
Opposition	New Democratic Party
Third Party	Liberal Party
Fourth Party	Bloc Québécois*
Fifth Party	Green Party*
* Party does not hold official party status.
House of Commons
Seating arrangements of the House of Commons
Speaker of the Commons	Hon. Andrew Scheer
	June 2, 2011 – present
Government House Leader	Hon. Peter Van Loan
	May 18, 2011 – present
Opposition House Leader	Thomas Mulcair
	May 26, 2011 – October 14, 2011
	Joe Comartin
	October 14, 2011 – April 19, 2012
	Nathan Cullen
	April 20, 2012 - present
Senate
Seating arrangements of the Senate
Speaker of the Senate	Hon. Noël A. Kinsella
	February 8, 2006 – present
Government Senate Leader	Hon. Marjory LeBreton
	February 6, 2006 – present
Opposition Senate Leader	Hon. Jim Cowan
	November 3, 2008 – present
Sessions
1st Session June 2, 2011 –
Ministries
28th Canadian Ministry Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper February 6, 2006 – present Parliamentarians Members 308 seats Senators 105 seats <40th 42nd>

The 41st Canadian Parliament is the current Parliament of Canada, with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 2011 federal election held on May 2, 2011. Parliament convened on June 2, 2011, with the election of Andrew Scheer as Speaker, followed the next day with the Speech from the Throne.

Party standings

Canada

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Canada

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The party standings as of the election, and as of May 30, 2012, are as follows:

Major bills and motions

In the parliament's first session, the House of Commons met for 14 days in June, between the end of election and before the summer recess, and 6 bills were given royal assent, all on June 26. The Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act (Bill C-6) was adopted despite 58 hours of continuous debate.^[8] The 2011 Canadian federal budget was quickly passed and while only the Conservatives voted in favour of the appropriation acts, the Bloc Québécois and Green Party joined them in voting in favour of the budget implementation bill Supporting Vulnerable Seniors and Strengthening Canada's Economy Act (Bill C-3) which enacted several spending measures promised in the budget, such as increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplements for seniors.^[9] The Fair and Efficient Criminal Trials Act (Bill C-2) authorizing federal judges to hear all pretrial motions at once during mega-trials, was introduced on June 13 and was supported by the Conservative, New Democratic and Liberal parties.^[10]

When the parliament re-convened in September, the Minister of Justice introduced the Safe Streets and Communities Act (Bill C-10), an omnibus bill of nine separate measures. Among the measures include replacing the pardon system with 'record suspensions', mandatory minimum sentences and/or penalties for certain drug and sexual offences, increasing prison sentences for marijuana offences, making it illegal to make sexually explicit information available to a child, reducing the ability of judges to sentence certain offenders to house arrest, allowing immigration officers to deny work permits to foreigners who are at risk of being sexually exploited, and enabling Canadians to sue state sponsors of terrorism for losses due to an act of terrorism.^[11][12] The bill was reviewed by the 'House Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights' throughout October and November, chaired by Oxford MP Dave MacKenzie and passed by the House of Commons on December 5, 2011, on a 157 to 127 vote, with only the Conservative Party voting in favour. The senate made six amendments and it was given royal assent on March 13, 2012.

On September 29 the Minister of Industry introduced the Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-11) — the same bill that was introduced in the 3rd session of the previous parliament and referred to the 'Legislative Committee on Bill C-32'. The bill is first major copyright reform since 1997 and brings Canadian copyright laws in line with modern digital rights management^[13][14] However, the proposed law was criticized as "irredeemably flawed"^[15] due to a contradiction between consumer rights and digital locks, American interference, a requirement for students to destroy copyrighted digital content after a course ends, and makes notice and notice mandatory for all ISPs, including disclosing the identity and activity of customers suspected of copyright infringement.^[15]

The Minister of Agriculture introduced the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act (Bill C-18) which repealed the Canadian Wheat Board Act, eliminating the requirement for farmers to sell wheat and barley produce to the Canadian Wheat Board. The new act also appoints a new board of directors that must either privatize or dismantle the wheat board.^[16] The bill was studied by the 'Legislative Committee on Bill C-18' chaired by Wetaskiwin MP Blaine Calkins between October 31 and November 4. The bill was subject to a lawsuit by the wheat board's existing board of directors claiming that the government cannot change the mandate of the wheat board without the consent of its members^[17] and a counter-suit which sought to prevent the board of directors from using wheat board revenue for legal action against the government.^[18] A federal trial court decided that for the bill to be legal the government required the consent of the affected farmers, via a vote or plebiscite, as provided for in the 1998 Canadian Wheat Board Act, although that case is in appeal as of December 2011^[update].^[19] Nevertheless, on November 28, the bill was passed by the House of Commons, with only the Conservative Party voting in favour. The bill was reviewed by the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry in December and passed by the Senate on December 15, 2011. Despite the ruling of the judicial branch, Governor General David Johnston gave royal assent to the bill on the same day.^[20]

The Minister of Public Safety introduced the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act (Bill C-19) which amends the Criminal Code of Canada and the Firearms Act to remove the requirement to register firearms that are neither prohibited nor restricted and requires that the existing records relating to non-restricted firearms in the Canadian Firearms Registry be destroyed.^[21] The registration of long guns had been a divisive issue since its inception in 1995.^[22] The bill was introduce on October 25 and reviewed by the 'House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security' throughout November, chaired by Crowfoot MP Kevin Sorenson. With no amendments made to the bill in committee, it was passed on February 15 by the House of Commons on a 159 to 130 vote, with only two opposition MPs voting in favour.^[23] The bill was passed by the senate on April 5, 2012, and given royal assent the next day.

The Minister of Public Safety also introduced the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act (Bill C-30) which proposed to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to grant law enforcement agencies new powers to combat criminal activity on the internet. The bill has met with criticism from privacy groups, opposition MPs and the public over charges that the law would infringe on the privacy rights of Canadian citizens.^[24]

On April 26, 2012, the Minister of Finance introduced the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act (Bill C-38), an omnibus bill that amends over 50 laws. The bill makes numerous amendments to the environmental assessment process, including increasing the threshold for which reviews are required, limiting the scope of the reviews, shortening review times, moving environmental reviews of pipeline projects to the National Energy Board and nuclear projects to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, enabling the delegation of reviews to provincial agencies, limiting reviews of fish habitats to only the fish used for commercial, recreation or first nations purposes, making reviews of migratory birds optional (at the discretion of cabinet), and limits public participation to only those individuals who directly impacted by a proposal or are specifically sought by the review agency for their specialized knowledge.^[25] The omnibus bill would also repeal the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act and the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act, eliminates the National Council of Welfare, and the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, the regulatory agency Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, the Public Appointments Commission, the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, and the Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal, as well as elimates the office of the inspector general at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and certain reviews by Auditor General.^[26] It creates a new department called Shared Services Canada and repalces the Employment Insurance Board of Referees with the Social Security Tribunal. The bill also provides for moving the Old Age Security pension threshold from 65 to 67 years old, and provides for the deprecation of the penny and social insurance number cards..^[26] The government was criticized for limiting debate on the 420-page bill to only 7 days.^[27]

Senate appointments and cabinet shuffles

On May 18, 2011, two weeks after the election, Prime-Minister Harper made appointments to the Senate and the 28th Canadian Ministry. To the Senate Harper appointed Fabian Manning, Larry Smith, and Josée Verner, all of whom were defeated Conservative Party candidates in the general election. Manning and Smith had resigned from the Senate to run in the election and they became the first Senators to be reappointed to the Senate since John Carling in April 1896.^[28]

On January 6, 2012, Harper appointed seven new Senators in his second batch of appointments in the 41st Parliament, all Conservative Party members. The appointments went to Alberta Senator-in-waiting Betty Unger, former police chief in the city of Ottawa Vernon White, former MP Norman Doyle, the 2011 Conservative Party nominee in Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot Jean-Guy Dagenais, as well as JoAnne Buth, Ghislain Maltais, and Asha Seth.^[29][30]

Harper largely kept the same cabinet as before the election, but had lost five ministers to retirement or defeat. In the May 18 cabinet shuffle he promoted Steven Blaney, Ed Fast, Joe Oliver, Peter Penashue to ministerial positions, as well as promoting Denis Lebel and Julian Fantino from Minister of State roles to ministerial positions. He also promoted Bernard Valcourt, Tim Uppal, Alice Wong, Bal Gosal, and Maxime Bernier to Minister of State roles, replacing the two who had been promoted to Minister, one who had been defeated in the election, and Rob Merrifield and Rob Moore who were demoted.^[28]

Members

For full lists of members of the 41st Parliament of Canada, see List of House members of the 41st Parliament of Canada and List of senators in the 41st Parliament of Canada.

Committees

House

• Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
• Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics
• Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food
• Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage
• Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration
• Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development
• Standing Committee on Finance
• Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans
• Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
• Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates
• Standing Committee on Health
• Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
• Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology
• Standing Committee on International Trade
• Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights
• Standing Committee on National Defence
• Standing Committee on Natural Resources
• Standing Committee on Official Languages
• Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs
• Standing Committee on Public Accounts
• Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security
• Standing Committee on Status of Women
• Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
• Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs

Senate

• Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples
• Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry
• Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce
• Standing Committee on Conflict of Interest for Senators
• Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources
• Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans
• Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade
• Standing Committee on Human Rights
• Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration
• Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
• Standing Committee on National Finance
• Standing Committee on National Security and Defence
  • Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs
• Standing Committee on Official Languages
• Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament
• Selection Committee
• Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology
• Standing Committee on Transport and Communications

Joint Committees

• Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament
• Standing Joint Committee on Scrutiny of Regulations

Officeholders

Speakers

Speaker of the Senate
Noël Kinsella (Conservative)

• Speaker of the Canadian Senate: Hon. Noël Kinsella, Conservative Senator for New Brunswick.
• Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons: Hon. Andrew Scheer, Conservative member for Regina—Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan

Other Chair occupants

Senate

• Speaker pro tempore of the Canadian Senate: Hon. Donald H. Oliver, Conservative Senator for Nova Scotia

House of Commons

• House of Commons Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees of the Whole: Denise Savoie, NDP member for Victoria, British Columbia
• Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole: Barry Devolin, Conservative member for Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, Ontario
• Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole: Bruce Stanton, Conservative member for Simcoe North, Ontario

Leaders

• Prime Minister of Canada: Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper (Conservative)
• Leader of the Opposition (NDP):
  1. Hon. Jack Layton (May 2, 2011 – August 22, 2011)
  2. Nycole Turmel (August 23, 2011 – March 23, 2012) (Opposition Leader from August 23, 2011 to March 23, 2012,^[31] interim NDP leader from July 28, 2011 to March 24, 2012)
  3. Thomas Mulcair (March 24, 2012 – present)
• Liberal Party of Canada: Hon. Bob Rae (interim)
• Bloc Québécois leader:
  1. None (May 2, 2011 – December 11, 2011)
  2. Daniel Paillé (December 11, 2011 – present) (from outside the House)
• Green Party of Canada leader: Elizabeth May

Floor leaders

Senate

• Leader of the Government in the Senate: Hon. Marjory LeBreton
• Leader of the Opposition in the Senate: Hon. Jim Cowan

House of Commons

• Government House Leader: Hon. Peter Van Loan
• Opposition House Leader:

1. Thomas Mulcair (May 26, 2011 – October 14, 2011)^[32]
2. Joe Comartin (October 14, 2011 – April 19, 2012)^[33]
3. Nathan Cullen (April 20, 2012 – present)

• Liberal House Leader: Marc Garneau
• Bloc Québécois House Leader: Louis Plamondon (acting)

Whips

Senate

• Government Whip in the Senate: Hon. Consiglio Di Nino
• Deputy Government Whip in the Senate: Hon. Stephen Greene
• Opposition Whip in the Senate: Hon. Jim Munson
• Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate: Hon. Libbe Hubley

House of Commons

• Chief Government Whip: Hon. Gordon O'Connor
• Deputy Government Whip: Harold Albrecht
• Official Opposition Whip: Nycole Turmel
• Liberal Whip: Judy Foote

Shadow cabinets

• Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet of the 41st Parliament of Canada
• Liberal Shadow Cabinet of the 41st Parliament of Canada
• Bloc Québécois Shadow Cabinet of the 41st Parliament of Canada

References

External links

• 41st Canadian Parliament
• Parliament of Canada website

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