Legislative Session - Procedure in Commonwealth Realms

Procedure in Commonwealth Realms

In Commonwealth realms, legislative sessions can last from a few weeks to over a year; between general elections, there are usually anywhere from one to six sessions of parliament before a dissolution by either the Crown-in-Council or the expiry of a legally mandated term limit. Each session begins with a speech from the throne, read to the members of both legislative chambers either by the reigning sovereign or a viceroy or other representative. Houses of parliament in some realms will, following this address, introduce a pro forma bill as a symbol of the right of parliament to give priority to matters other than the monarch and his or her words (always written by the cabinet of the day).

Bills are numbered within each session; in Canada, for example, each period's government House Bills are numbered from C-2 to C-200 (for the House of Commons) and S-2 to S-200 (for the Senate), returning again to C-2 and S-2 following a prorogation (C-1 and S-1 always being the aforementioned pro-forma bill).

In the parliament of the United Kingdom, prorogation is immediately preceded by a speech to both legislative chambers, with procedures similar to the Throne Speech. The monarch usually approves the oration— which recalls the prior legislative session, noting major bills passed and other functions of the government— but rarely delivers it in person, Queen Victoria being the last to do so. Instead, the speech is presented by the Lords Commissioners and read by the Leader of the House of Lords. When King Charles I dissolved the Parliament of England in 1628, after the Petition of Right, he gave a prorogation speech that effectively cancelled all future meetings of the legislature, at least until he again required finances.

In the British and Canadian parliamentary systems, the legislature is typically prorogued upon the completion of the agenda set forth in the Speech from the Throne, called in the UK the legislative programme, and remain in recess until the monarch, governor-general, lieutenant governor, or governor summons parliamentarians again. In Canada, however, prorogations have triggered speculation that they were advised by the sitting prime minister for political purposes: for example, in the 40th Parliament, the first prorogation occurred in the midst of a parliamentary dispute, in which the opposition parties expressed intent to defeat the minority government, and the second was suspected by opposition Members of Parliament to be a way to avoid investigations into the Afghan detainees affair and triggered citizen protests. Similarly, the provincial legislature for Ontario in Canada was prorogued in October of 2012 under similar circumstances, and is alleged to have happened to avoid scrutiny on a number of issues.

Probably the most prominent case of alleged abuse of prorogation in recent United Kingdom history was the short session of Parliament convened in September and October 1948, which included a King's Speech on 14 September 1948 and prorogation on 25 October. The Labour government of Clement Attlee used this tactic to ensure a more rapid enactment of the Parliament Act 1949 which reduced the powers of the House of Lords.