Legislative reform in Canada A question of capacity? Paul Thomas - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Legislative reform in Canada A question of capacity? Paul Thomas PhD Candidate 1

Capacity of legislatures • All legislatures in Canada have same functions: • Representation (symbolic, service to constituents) • Legislation • Scrutiny 2

Avg. government bills introduced per year 70 57 60 56 56 52 49 50 47 47 45 43 40 33 30 30 20 10 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC 3

Capacity of legislatures • Not all legislatures have same capacity to accomplish these tasks • Capacity is not efficiency • Burden falls primarily on opposition 4

Capacity of legislatures Capacity = size x time x resources x backbench independence 1) Size: number of members 2) Time: sitting days, number of venues (e.g. committees) 3) Resources: officers of the legislature, research support, constituency staff, travel funding 4) Backbench independence: willingness of backbenchers to defy party line 5

Size: members per legislature 350 308 300 250 200 150 125 107 100 87 85 58 57 51 48 49 50 27 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC 6

Size: impact on representation 140,000 126,523 120,000 114,150 100,000 80,000 65,242 60,000 53,906 46,266 40,000 22,193 19,109 15,431 18,447 20,000 10,973 5,378 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Population per member 7

Size: impact on representation 140,000 350 308 120,000 300 Population per member Number of members 100,000 250 80,000 200 60,000 150 125 107 40,000 100 87 85 57 58 20,000 50 51 49 48 27 0 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Pop per Member Members 8

Size: impact on legislation 7.0 5.9 6.0 5.0 4.0 2.9 3.0 2.7 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.3 1.2 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.0 0.6 0.0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Average government bills introduced per year, per legislator 9

Annual government spending ($BN) 250.0 236.5 200.0 150.0 104.3 100.0 83.7 50.0 39.0 38.3 11.7 11.3 8.9 7.6 6.5 1.5 0.0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Annual gov spending $BN 10

Size: impact on scrutiny 20.0 17.8 18.0 16.0 14.0 12.0 10.0 7.4 8.0 6.4 5.8 6.0 5.2 4.9 4.0 2.2 2.2 1.5 1.3 2.0 1.0 0.0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Legislators per $BN in government spending per year 11

Capacity of legislatures Capacity = size x time x resources x backbench independence 1) Size: negatively affects representation, legislation; little impact on scrutiny since small legislatures spend less 12

Time: sitting hours per year 900 812 800 700 600 516 500 402 400 365 351 333 327 304 300 215 191 200 156 100 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC 13

Time: sitting hours per year vs. # members 900 350 812 800 300 700 Sitting hours per year Number of members 250 600 516 200 500 402 365 400 351 150 333 327 304 300 100 215 191 200 156 50 100 0 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Sitting hours per year Members 14

Time: impact on legislation 18 16 16 14 12 12 11 10 10 8 8 7 7 6 6 4 4 4 3 2 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Sitting hours per bill 15

Time: impact on legislation 18 7.0 Gov. bills introduced per year, per legislator Sitting hours per year per gov. bill introduced 16 16 6.0 14 5.0 12 12 11 10 4.0 10 8 8 7 7 3.0 6 6 2.0 4 4 4 3 1.0 2 0 0.0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Sitting hours per government bill Legislators per government bill 16

Cumulative impact: size x time = 308 MPs x 812 hours per year = 48 MHAs x 192 hours per year 17

Size x time: total legislator sitting hours/year 300000 250,170 250000 200000 150000 100000 50,250 55,212 50000 30,537 25,857 20,777 19,321 16,013 10,975 9,180 4,212 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC 18

Size x time: total legislator sitting hours/year 60000 55,212 50,250 50000 40000 30,537 30000 25,857 20,777 19,321 20000 16,013 10,975 9,180 10000 4,212 0 NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC 19

Size x time: total legislator sitting hours/year 60000 140 55,212 50,250 120 50000 100 40000 80 30,537 30000 25,857 60 20,777 19,321 20000 16,013 40 10,975 9,180 10000 20 4,212 0 0 NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Total legislator sitting hours per year Number of members 20

Size x time: impact on legislation 1400 1,274 1200 1000 931 897 874 800 600 462 411 400 279 195 195 200 86 0 NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Total legislator sitting hours per year, per bill 21

Size x time: impact on scrutiny 3,000.0 2,778 2,500.0 2,095 2,000.0 1,774 1,717 1,415 1,500.0 1,238 1,058 1,000.0 782 675 600 529 500.0 0.0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Legislator hours per $BN in government spending per year 22

Time: impact on scrutiny 3,000.0 20.0 18.0 2,500.0 16.0 14.0 2,000.0 12.0 1,500.0 10.0 8.0 1,000.0 6.0 4.0 500.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Legislator sitting hours per $BN in gov spending Legislators per $BN in gov spending 23

Time: committee activity 30 24 25 20 15 9 9 10 8 6 6 6 4 4 5 3 2 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC # of active/moderatly active committees 24

Capacity of legislatures Capacity = size x time x resources x backbench independence 2) Time: • Longer hours can help smaller legislatures compensate for their size, but shorter hours can aggravate size gaps • Larger legislatures tend to have more committees, allowing more parallel activity. 25

Resources: total legislative budget 500.0 429.0 450.0 400.0 350.0 300.0 250.0 200.0 122.0 127.8 150.0 100.0 71.4 71.2 26.3 50.0 21.9 18.0 15.6 13.6 4.5 0.0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Total legislative budget in $M 26

Resources: budget per member 1600 1393 1400 1194 1200 976 1000 838 821 800 600 453 429 325 400 315 278 166 200 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Total legislative budget per member in $K 27

Resources: impact on representation 6.0 5.6 5.0 5.0 4.4 4.0 3.5 3.0 3.0 2.4 2.0 1.7 1.7 1.4 1.3 1.0 0.4 0.0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Partisan staff per member 28

Resources: impact on legislation 30 28 28 27 25 25 20 17 15 10 10 8 7 7 5 5 3 0 Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Legislative budget in $K per member per government bill introduced 29

Capacity of legislatures Capacity = size x time x resources x backbench independence 3) Resources: • Larger legislatures also tend to have more resources, amplifying size gaps • Ontario better resourced than Quebec despite having fewer members 30

Backbench independence: government caucus 90% 83% 80% 67% 70% 65% 63% 62% 60% 56% 60% 55% 55% 53% 52% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Gov. caucus as % of total members 31

Backbench independence: cabinet size 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 33% 31% 30% 29% 27% 27% 30% 25% 24% 22% 21% 20% 13% 10% 0% Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Gov. caucus as % of total members Cabinet as % of total members 32

Backbench independence: executive size 90% 80% 70% 60% 53% 48% 50% 44% 39% 38% 38% 40% 32% 30% 29% 27% 30% 22% 20% 10% 0% Fed NL PE NB NS QC ON MB SK AB BC Gov. caucus as % of total members Cabinet as % of total members Executive as % of total members 33

Capacity of legislatures Capacity = size x time x resources x backbench independence 4) Backbench independence: growing number of parliamentary secretaries, etc. can harm legislation, scrutiny functions 34

Conclusion • All legislatures have the same functions, but their capacity differs • Largest impact on performance is size: • Legislatures in more populous provinces are larger, but they have not kept pace with population or spending growth • However, larger legislatures are better able to handle legislation • Time can lessen or aggravate size differences: • Small legislatures may increase capacity by sitting longer (NB, ON) • However, general trend is that larger legislatures sit longer, reducing difference in scrutiny capacity • Larger legislatures also tend to have more committees 35

Conclusion • Resources aggravate size differences: • Larger legislatures have far more resources for scrutiny, etc. • Capacity of some legislatures harmed by lack of backbench independence • Growth of parliamentary secretary and legislative assistant positions erodes number of true government backbenchers • A gap at any point can undermine capacity for legislative effectiveness 36

Thanks! Questions? Email: paul.thomas@utoronto.ca 37