LegislationJuly 12, 2026
In Canada, the power to negotiate, sign, and ratify treaties belongs to the executive — Cabinet, exercising the Crown prerogative over foreign affairs — not to Parliament. Unlike the United States, where the Senate must consent to treaties, Canada's Parliament has no constitutional role in ratification: the government can bind Canada internationally without any parliamentary vote. Since 2008, a Global Affairs policy has required treaties to be tabled in the House of Commons for 21 sitting days before the government takes binding action, giving MPs a chance to debate — but the policy does not require a vote, the House cannot block ratification, and exceptions exist for urgent cases. The crucial distinction is between three separate steps: signing (signalling intent to be bound), ratifying (the formal act that binds Canada under international law), and implementing (changing domestic law to meet the treaty's obligations). Because Canada is a "dualist" system, treaties do not automatically become Canadian law — so when a treaty requires domestic legal change, Parliament must pass implementing legislation, and that is where votes happen: trade agreements like CUSMA and CETA each got an implementation act. Many treaties require no legal change and never receive any vote. A further complication comes from the 1937 Labour Conventions case, which held that while Ottawa may sign and ratify treaties on any subject, implementation follows the constitutional division of powers — treaties touching provincial jurisdiction can only be implemented by provincial legislatures, meaning Ottawa can make international promises it cannot, by itself, keep.
Read more →LegislationJuly 11, 2026
Canadian party leaders are unusually secure by the standards of Westminster democracies: they are chosen by party members at large, not by the MPs who sit with them, and for most of modern history the MPs had no formal mechanism to remove them. The Reform Act, 2014 — introduced by Conservative backbencher Michael Chong as Bill C-586 and passed with royal assent in June 2015 — was an attempt to shift some of that power back to caucus. It amends the Parliament of Canada Act to define four powers a party caucus may give itself: to expel and readmit caucus members, to elect its own caucus chair, to trigger a review of the party leader, and to elect an interim leader. The Act does not impose these rules; instead it requires that at its first meeting after a general election, each recognized party's caucus must hold a separate recorded vote on whether to adopt each of the four, with the outcome reported to the Speaker. Where the leadership-review rules are adopted, a written notice signed by at least 20 per cent of caucus members triggers a review, and a majority vote by secret ballot removes the leader. In practice, caucuses have rarely adopted the leadership powers, and the Act contains no penalty if a caucus skips the required votes altogether. The rules have been used to remove a leader exactly once: on February 2, 2022, the Conservative caucus — which had adopted the leadership-review power after the 2021 election — voted 73–45 by secret ballot to remove Erin O'Toole as leader.
Read more →LegislationJuly 10, 2026
Members of Parliament are paid under a framework set out in the Parliament of Canada Act. The foundation is the sessional indemnity — the base salary every MP receives regardless of party or seniority, which passed roughly the $200,000 mark in the mid-2020s (the exact current figure is published by the House of Commons). MPs who hold additional roles receive additional salaries on top: the Prime Minister receives an additional amount equal to the base (roughly doubling it), ministers receive an additional salary under the Salaries Act, and the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, House leaders, whips, parliamentary secretaries, and committee chairs each receive smaller supplements scaled to the role. Raises are not voted on annually: the Act adjusts salaries automatically every April 1, indexed to the average increase in base-rate wages from major private-sector union settlements — an index published by the federal government — though Parliament can and occasionally has legislated freezes. Since a 2001 reform eliminated the old tax-free expense allowance, the salary is fully taxable. The pension, governed by the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, vests after six years of pensionable service and accrues at 3 per cent per year of service to a maximum of 75 per cent; reforms passed in 2012 raised members' contribution rates toward equal cost-sharing and moved the age for an unreduced pension to 65 for service after 2015. Separately from all of this, each MP receives an office budget set by the Board of Internal Economy — money for staff, constituency offices, and travel that is publicly disclosed quarterly and is not personal pay.
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