Everything about Section Five Of The Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms totally explained
Section Five of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a part of the
Constitution of Canada, and the last of three
democratic rights in the
Charter. Its role is to establish a rule regarding how frequently the
Parliament of Canada and the legislatures of the
provinces and territories of Canada must meet. This section is thus meant to reflect and
constitutionally guarantee a "basic democratic principle" that "a government must explain its actions to the people."
The section reads,
Function
Section 5 guarantees that, since Parliament and each legislature must sit at least once a year,
Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assemblies may raise concerns or inquiries or challenge government policies (
See Question Period).
This right didn't exist in the
Canadian Bill of Rights. Insofar as the Parliament of Canada is concerned, section 5 instead replaced section 20 of the
Constitution Act, 1867, which had read:
Constitution Act, 1982, section 53 of the Constitution Act, 1982 repealed section 20 of the Constitution Act, 1867. The difference was that section 5 merely requires a sitting of Parliament at least once a year, whereas section 20 had required not only a sitting but also a session of Parliament every year. Every session must begin with a
Speech from the Throne, and moreover, bills that hadn't been passed when a session comes to a close must be introduced again, after a new session is initiated, if it's still desired to become law. Hence, governments sometimes prefer that sessions last longer than the twelve months that had been prescribed by the Constitution Act, 1867. Writing in 2000, political scientist
Rand Dyck observed that while sessions even now usually last a year, they "often spilled over to two or even three years." Even before 1982, governments sometimes extended session lengths to give more time to parliamentary committees to work, even though the
Canadian House of Commons and
Canadian Senate would stop working.
As far as the province of
Manitoba is concerned, section 5 of the Charter replaced section 20 of the
Manitoba Act, which was also repealed in 1982. Section 5 still co-exists with section 86 of the Constitution Act, 1867, which requires annual sessions for the legislatures of the provinces of
Ontario and
Quebec.
Enforcement
There are no examples in Canadian history of cabinets ruling without consulting Parliament at least once a year. If it were to happen, Professor Gérald-A. Beaudoin wrote in 1982 that section 5 wouldn't allow courts to take any remedial action besides ruling the government's refusal to let a legislature sit is inappropriate. If it were necessary to resolve the problem, the
Governor General of Canada would have to appoint a new government and new
prime minister.
Further Information
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