Electoral Reform In Canada Essay

In the House of Commons, issues of the day are examined, the government is held accountable, and policies and laws are decided on. Therefore, it is important that issues and legislation get discussed thoroughly and in great detail, thus, committees are tools for further examination. The most recent and most prominent committee in the House of Commons is the Special Committee on Electoral Reform. The special committee was tasked to investigate reforms to Canada’s electoral system. However, after releasing its final report, the committee was criticized for not doing enough work and giving vague recommendations. Therefore, after examining the role, mandate, recent activities, and the impact of the committee, I argue that the Special Committee on Electoral Reform has succeeded in engaging with Canadians, however; the committee failed to provide a specific recommendation on the electoral system that Canada can adopt. …show more content…
There are several types of committees in Canada’s parliament such as standing committees, joint committees, special committees, legislative committees, subcommittees, liaison committees, and committees of the whole (Parliament of Canada). The function of these committees is to study legislation and matters related to their mandate in greater detail and in small groups. More importantly, committees publish reports that contain the conclusions of their examination and recommendations to the issue at hand, as well as reporting the information to the House of Commons. Furthermore, special committees are committees appointed by the House of Commons to study an issue of special importance. In this case, the House of Commons’ Special Committee on Electoral Reform was created by order of reference by the House of Commons on June 7th, 2016 to carry out its mandate (SCER,