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The status of impeachment as a tool to hold Government accountable is uncertain.

As Canada shares a constitutional framework with the pre-1867 United Kingdom, and since impeachment remained at that time an option for the United Kingdom House of Commons to pursue, it can be argued that the Canadian House of Commons continues to enjoy impeachment authority pursuant to s. 18 of the Constitution Act, 1867. However, the status and authority of the Senate to decide on that impeachment (as the House of Lords would do for the United Kingdom House of Commons) is unclear.

Some scholars have argued that the power of impeachment is obsolete now that the Government is responsible to the House of Commons. It would be much easier for a prime minister to be removed through a defeat in the House of Commons and subsequent elections, than it would be to navigate the untested constitutional waters of impeachment.

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12y ago

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