1.
William Lyon Mackenzie King
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William Lyon Mackenzie King OM, CMG, PC, also commonly known as Mackenzie King, was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada in 1921–1926, 1926–1930, a Liberal with 21 years and 154 days in office, he was the longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history. Trained in law and social work, he was interested in the human condition. King acceded to the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1919, taking the helm of a party bitterly torn apart during the First World War, he reconciled factions, unifying the Liberal Party and leading it to victory in the 1921 election. His party was out of office during the harshest days of the Great Depression in Canada, 1930–35 and he personally handled complex relations with the Prairie Provinces, while his top aides Ernest Lapointe and Louis St. Laurent skillfully met the demands of French Canadians. During the Second World War, he avoided the battles over conscription, patriotism. Though few major policy innovations took place during his premiership, he was able to synthesize, scholars attribute Kings long tenure as party leader to his wide range of skills that were appropriate to Canadas needs. He understood the workings of capital and labour, keenly sensitive to the nuances of public policy, he was a workaholic with a shrewd and penetrating intelligence and a profound understanding of the complexities of Canadian society. A modernizing technocrat who regarded managerial mediation as essential to an industrial society, King worked to bring compromise and harmony to many competing and feuding elements, using politics and government action as his instrument. He led his party for 29 years, and established Canadas international reputation as a middle power fully committed to world order, Kings biographers agree on the personal characteristics that made him distinctive. He lacked the charisma of such contemporaries as Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and he lacked a commanding presence or oratorical skill, his best writing was academic, and did not resonate with the electorate. Cold and tactless in human relations, he had allies but very few personal friends. He never married and lacked a hostess whose charm could substitute for his chill, a survey of scholars in 1997 by Macleans magazine ranked King first among all Canadas prime ministers, ahead of Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier. As historian Jack Granatstein notes, the scholars expressed little admiration for King the man but offered unbounded admiration for his political skills, on the other hand, political scientist Ian Stewart in 2007 found that even Liberal activists have but a dim memory of him. King was born in Berlin, Ontario, to John King and his maternal grandfather was William Lyon Mackenzie, first mayor of Toronto and leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837. His father was a lawyer, and later a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and he attended Berlin Central School and Berlin High School. Tutors were hired to teach him more politics, science, math, English and his father was a lawyer with a struggling practice in a small city, and never enjoyed financial security. King became a lifelong practising Presbyterian with a dedication to applying Christian virtues to social issues in the style of the Social Gospel and he obtained three degrees from the University of Toronto, B. A.1895, LL. B
2.
Liberal Party of Canada
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The Liberal Party of Canada, colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, and generally sits at the centre of the Canadian political spectrum, the Liberal Party is traditionally positioned to the left of the Conservative Party of Canada and to the right of the New Democratic Party. During the beginning of the 21st century, the party lost a significant amount of support, in the present times, the Liberal party has favoured a variety of big tent policies from both right and left of the political spectrum. It also legalized same-sex marriage and allowed the use of cannabis for medical purposes, during the 2015 election, the Liberal partys proposed policies included, Cut the middle class tax bracket from 22% to 20.88 per $100 to $1. In the 29 years after Canadian confederation, the Liberals were consigned to opposition, with the exception of one stint in government. Alexander Mackenzie was able to lead the party to power for the first time in 1873, Mackenzie subsequently won the 1874 election, and served as Prime Minister for an additional four years. However the party was able to build a solid support base in Ontario. The Liberals would spend the next 18 years in opposition, in their early history, the Liberals were the party of continentalism and opposition to imperialism. The Liberals also became identified with the aspirations of Quebecers as a result of the hostility of French Canadians to the Conservatives. It was not until Wilfrid Laurier became leader that the Liberal Party emerged as a modern party, Laurier was able to capitalize on the Tories alienation of French Canada by offering the Liberals as a credible alternative. Laurier was able to overcome the reputation for anti-clericalism that offended the still-powerful Quebec Roman Catholic Church. In English-speaking Canada, the Liberal Partys support for reciprocity made it popular among farmers, Laurier led the Liberals to power in the 1896 election, and oversaw a government that increased immigration in order to settle Western Canada. Lauriers government created the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta out of the North-West Territories, there was no national membership of the party, an individual became a member by joining a provincial Liberal party. The new organization allowed individuals to join the national Liberal Party for the first time. No national convention was held, however, until 1948, the Liberal Party held only three national conventions prior to the 1950s – in 1893,1919 and 1948). Over time, provincial Liberal parties in most provinces were separated from provincial wings of the federal party, by the 1980s, the National Liberal Federation was officially known as the Liberal Party of Canada. Under Laurier, and his successor William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Liberals promoted Canadian sovereignty, after the King–Byng Affair of 1926, the Liberals argued that the Governor General of Canada should no longer be appointed on the recommendation of the British government. The decisions of the Imperial Conferences were formalized in the Statute of Westminster, which was passed in 1931
3.
Prime Minister of Canada
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Canadian prime ministers are styled as The Right Honourable, a privilege maintained for life. The office and its functions are instead governed by constitutional conventions, the prime minister, along with the other ministers in cabinet, is appointed by the governor general on behalf of the monarch. There are no age or citizenship restrictions on the position of prime minister itself, while there is no legal requirement for the prime minister to be a member of parliament, for practical and political reasons the prime minister is expected to win a seat very promptly. However, in rare circumstances individuals who are not sitting members of the House of Commons have been appointed to the position of prime minister, two former prime ministers—Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott and Sir Mackenzie Bowell—served in the 1890s while members of the Senate. Both, in their roles as Government Leader in the Senate, succeeded prime ministers who had died in office—John A. Macdonald in 1891 and that convention has since evolved toward the appointment of an interim leader from the commons in such a scenario. Prime ministers who are not Members of Parliament upon their appointment have since been expected to seek election to the commons as soon as possible. For example, William Lyon Mackenzie King, after losing his seat in the 1925 federal election, Turner was the last serving prime minister to not hold a commons seat. The Canadian prime minister serves at Her Majestys pleasure, meaning the post does not have a fixed term, once appointed and sworn in by the governor general, the prime minister remains in office until he or she resigns, is dismissed, or dies. Following parliamentary dissolution, the prime minister must run in the general election if he or she wishes to maintain a seat in the House of Commons. Should the prime ministers party subsequently win a majority of seats in the House of Commons, if, however, an opposition party wins a majority of seats, the prime minister may resign or be dismissed by the governor general. This option was last entertained in 1925, however, the function of the prime minister has evolved with increasing power. Caucuses may choose to follow rules, though the decision would be made by recorded vote. Either the sovereign or his or her viceroy may therefore oppose the prime ministers will in extreme, for transportation, the prime minister is granted an armoured car and shared use of two official aircraft—a CC-150 Polaris for international flights and a Challenger 601 for domestic trips. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also furnish constant personal security for the prime minister, all of the aforementioned is supplied by the Queen-in-Council through budgets approved by parliament, as is the prime ministers annual salary of CAD$170,400. Should a serving or former prime minister die, he or she is accorded a state funeral, John Thompson also died outside Canada, at Windsor Castle, where Queen Victoria permitted his lying-in-state before his body was returned to Canada for a state funeral in Halifax. In earlier years, it was traditional for the monarch to bestow a knighthood on newly appointed Canadian prime ministers. Accordingly, several carried the prefix Sir before their name, of the first eight premiers of Canada, the Canadian Heraldic Authority has granted former prime ministers an augmentation of honour on the personal coat of arms of those who pursued them. To date, former prime ministers Joe Clark, Pierre Trudeau, John Turner, Brian Mulroney, the written form of address for the prime minister should use his or her full parliamentary title, The Right Honourable, Prime Minister of Canada
4.
House of Commons of Canada
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The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons chamber is located in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the House of Commons is a democratically elected body whose members are known as Members of Parliament. There were 308 members in the last Parliament, but that number has risen to 338 following the election on Monday October 19,2015, Members are elected by simple plurality in each of the countrys electoral districts, which are colloquially known as ridings. MPs may hold office until Parliament is dissolved and serve for constitutionally limited terms of up to five years after an election, historically however, terms have ended before their expiry and the sitting government has typically dissolved parliament within four years of an election according to a long-standing convention. In any case, an Act of Parliament now limits each term to four years, seats in the House of Commons are distributed roughly in proportion to the population of each province and territory. However, some ridings are more populous than others, and the Canadian constitution contains some provisions regarding provincial representation. As a result, there is some interprovincial and regional malapportionment relative to population, the lower of the two houses making up the parliament, the House of Commons in practice holds far more power than the upper house, the Senate. Although the approval of both Houses is necessary for legislation, the Senate very rarely rejects bills passed by the Commons, moreover, the Government of Canada is responsible solely to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support, or confidence, the term derives from the Anglo-Norman word communes, referring to the geographic and collective communities of their parliamentary representatives and not the third estate, the commonality. This distinction is clear in the official French name of the body. Canada and the United Kingdom remain the only countries to use the name House of Commons for a house of parliament. The new Parliament of Canada consisted of the Queen, the Senate, the Parliament of Canada was based on the Westminster model. Unlike the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the powers of the Parliament of Canada were limited in that other powers were assigned exclusively to the provincial legislatures, the Parliament of Canada also remained subordinate to the British Parliament, the supreme legislative authority for the entire British Empire. Greater autonomy was granted by the Statute of Westminster 1931, after which new Acts of the British Parliament did not apply to Canada and these exceptions were removed by the Canada Act 1982. From 1867, the Commons met in the chamber until that was destroyed by fire in 1916. It relocated to the amphitheatre of the Victoria Memorial Museum—what is today the Canadian Museum of Nature, since then, the Commons has sat in its current chamber. The House of Commons comprises 338 members, each of whom represents a electoral district. The constitution specifies a minimum of 295 electoral districts
5.
Canadian federal election, 1921
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The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6,1921, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, a new third party, the Progressive Party, won the second most seats in the election. Since the 1911 election, the country had been governed by the Conservatives, during the war, the Conservatives had united with the pro-conscription Liberal-Unionists and formed a Union government. A number of Members of Parliament, mostly Quebecers, stayed loyal to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, however, when Laurier died, he was replaced as leader by the Ontarian Mackenzie King. After the 1919 federal budget, a number of western unionist MPs, led by Thomas Alexander Crerar, the group became known as the Progressive Party. Also running were a number of Labour advocates, foremost amongst them J. S. Woodsworth of Winnipeg, Meighen had played a key role in violently suppressing the strikers and this earned him the animosity of organized labour. Besides the labour strife and farm tariffs in the Prairie provinces, the election was the first in which the majority of Canadian women were allowed to vote, thanks to reforms passed by the Conservatives. Five women also ran for office, agnes Macphail of the Progressive Party was elected as the first woman MP in Canada. Parliament was split three ways by this election, Kings Liberals won a majority government of just one seat but won all of Quebec, much of the Maritime Provinces, and a good portion of Ontario. The Progressive Party, including the United Farmers of Alberta, won the second largest number of seats, dominating the West, Liberal and Conservative candidates were shut out in Alberta, with 10 UFA and two Labour candidates taking the provinces 12 federal seats. The party won one seat east of Ontario, however. Despite winning the second most seats, it declined to form the official opposition and it would be the only Canadian federal election before 1993 in which a party other than the Liberals or the Conservatives won the second most number of seats. The Conservatives lost the most seats up to time of any governing party at the federal level. They won fewer seats than the Progressives but wound up forming the official opposition, the Conservatives won much of Ontario and had some support in the Maritimes and British Columbia but won no seats in the Prairies or in Quebec. Three Independent Labour MPs were elected, J. S. Woodsworth won his seat largely from his role in the 1919 Winnipeg general strike, the government that King formed in the parliament resulting from this election was Canadas first minority government. Although Kings party won a majority of seats at the election. The Liberal Party lost two by-elections to Conservative candidates, but had gained two seats from Progressives who crossed the floor, so its majority was not affected by these losses. From November 25,1924, to the dissolution of parliament, the Progressive caucus was less united than the Liberals or Conservatives, due to the formation of the Ginger Group and the semi-autonomous United Farmers of Alberta group
6.
Canadian federal election, 1925
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The Canadian federal election of 1925 was held on October 29 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 15th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie Kings Liberal Party formed a minority government, the Liberals under Mackenzie King won fewer seats than Arthur Meighens Conservatives. A third party, the Progressives, which had nominated candidates for the first time in the 1921 election, King decided to hold on to power with the help of the Progressives. The Progressives were closely aligned with the Liberals, and enabled King to form a minority government and this plan was complicated by the fact that his party won fewer seats than the Conservatives, and that King himself had lost his seat in the House of Commons. Meighen was outraged by Kings move, and demanded that King resign from the Prime Ministers office, King asked a Liberal Member of Parliament from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to resign so that he could run in the resulting by-election. Prince Albert was one of the safest seats in Canada for the Liberals, with King back in Parliament, a huge scandal rocked the King cabinet when one of his appointees was discovered to be accepting bribes. Anticipating a vote of censure by the Commons, King asked the Governor General, Baron Byng of Vimy, the Governor General refused, and King resigned. King claimed this was interference in Canadian politics by an appointed by a foreign power. King showed rare fire, and rallied the Progressives back into his camp and he defeated Meighen on a vote of confidence after only three days, making the Meighen government of 1926 the shortest lived government in Canadian history. This time, Byng called an election. L
7.
Arthur Meighen
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Arthur Meighen PC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served two terms as the ninth Prime Minister of Canada, from 10 July 1920 to 29 December 1921 and he was the first Prime Minister born after Confederation, and the only one to represent a riding in Manitoba. Meighen later served for a decade in the Senate of Canada, Arthur Meighen was born on a farm near Anderson, Perth County, Ontario, to Joseph Meighen and Mary Jane Bell. He attended primary school at Blanshard public school in Anderson, where, in addition to being the grandson of the villages first schoolmaster and he took first class honours in mathematics, English, and Latin. He then attended University College at the University of Toronto, where he earned a B. A. in mathematics in 1896, with first-class standing. While there, he met and became a rival of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Meighen then graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School. In 1904 he married Isabel J. Cox, with whom he had two sons and one daughter and he moved to Manitoba shortly after finishing law school. In public, Meighen was a debater, said to have honed his oratory by delivering lectures to empty desks after class. He was renowned for his sharp wit, Meighen was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1908, at the age of 34, defeating incumbent John Crawford when he captured the Manitoba riding of Portage la Prairie. In 1911, Meighen won re-election, this time as a member of the new governing party and he won election again in 1913, after being appointed to Prime Minister Robert Bordens Cabinet as Solicitor General. Meighens fiery, sarcastic, and partisan speeches gained him a following on the Conservative party backbench, who saw him as logical, informed and he gained a following among those in the party who felt Bordens government was aimless. Meighen served as Solicitor General from 26 June 1913 until 25 August 1917, in 1917, he was mainly responsible for implementing mandatory military service as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1917. Noteworthy was the decision to give votes to conscription supporters. Meighens portfolios were again shifted on 12 October 1917, this time to the positions of Minister of the Interior and he was re-elected in the December 1917 federal election, in which Bordens Unionist government defeated the opposition Laurier Liberals over the conscription issue. In 1919, as acting Minister of Justice and senior Manitoban in the government of Sir Robert Borden, Meighen helped to subdue the Winnipeg General Strike, shortly after the strike ended, he enacted the Section 98 amendments to the Criminal Code to ban association with organizations deemed seditious. It took the return to Ottawa in late July 1919 of Charles Doherty, Minister of Justice, Meighen was re-appointed Minister of Mines on the last day of 1920. During this first term, he was Prime Minister for about a year, Meighen fought the 1921 election under the banner of the National Liberal and Conservative Party in an attempt to keep the allegiance of Liberals who had supported the wartime Unionist government. However, his actions in implementing conscription hurt his partys support in Quebec, while the Winnipeg General Strike and farm tariffs made him unpopular among labour
8.
Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)
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The Speakers role in presiding over Canadas House of Commons is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in other countries that use the Westminster system. The current Speaker is Geoff Regan, the Speaker with the longest tenure is Peter Milliken who served four consecutive parliaments in 10 years,124 days. In Canada it is the Speakers responsibility to manage the House of Commons and it is also the Speakers duty to act as a liaison with the Senate and the Crown. He is to rule over the house and have the government answer questions during the period as well as keep decorum with the house. The term Speaker originates from the British parliamentary tradition, by convention, Speakers are normally addressed in Parliament as Mister Speaker, for a male, and Madame Speaker, for a female. While the Constitution requires that the Speaker be elected by the House of Commons, however, in 1986 this was changed and they are now selected by secret ballot. The Speaker remains a sitting MP, but only votes on matters in the case of a tie, all MPs except for Cabinet ministers and party leaders are eligible to run for the Speakership. Any MP who does not wish to put his or her name forward must issue a letter withdrawing from the ballot by the day before the vote. The election is presided over by the Dean of the House, currently Louis Plamondon, all candidates who receive less than 5% of the vote are removed from the ballot. If no candidate received less than 5% of the then the MP with the fewest vote drops off. This continues, with a break between ballots, until one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. In the event of a tie on the ballot, the ballot is taken again. This happened once, in 1993, when Gilbert Parent won over Jean-Robert Gauthier, the winner is escorted to the Speakers chair by the Prime Minister and Leader of the Official Opposition. Scheer was the youngest Speaker in Canadian history, on December 2,2015, Geoff Regan was elected Speaker in a secret ballot by members of the 42nd Parliament over Liberal candidates Denis Paradis, Yasmin Ratansi and Conservative Bruce Stanton. Regan won on the first ballot and is the first speaker from Atlantic Canada in over a hundred years, the Speaker usually comes from among MPs of the governing party. In the 39th Parliament, three members, Peter Milliken, Diane Marleau and Marcel Proulx, ran for Speaker. So far, every Speaker from a party has been a Liberal. The Speaker is required to perform his or her office impartially, Speaker Lucien Lamoureux decided to follow the custom of the Speaker of the British House of Commons and ran in the 1968 election as an independent
9.
Anti-Confederation Party
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Anti-Confederation was the name used in what is now Atlantic Canada by several parties opposed to Canadian Confederation. The Anti-Confederation parties were opposed by the Confederation Party. In 1867 in Nova Scotia, Anti-Confederates won 36 out of 38 seats in the provincial legislature, the Anti-Confederation Party was opposed by the Confederation Party of Charles Tupper. Prominent Anti-confederates included the noted shipbuilder William D. Lawrence, Alfred William Savary, federally, in the 1867 federal election, the Anti-Confederate party won 18 of Nova Scotias 19 seats in the Canadian House of Commons. Howe won the seat in Hants County, Nova Scotia. Britain, however, refused to allow Nova Scotia to secede, while many anti-confederationists threatened to secede and join the United States, Howe was a pragmatist and ultimately accepted Confederation as a fact. He was soon persuaded to join the Cabinet of Sir John A. Macdonald, there was also an Anti-Confederation Party in New Brunswick led by Albert J. Smith, whose coalition of Conservatives and Reformers won the 1865 election. It was, however, soundly defeated in the 1866 election by the Confederation Party led by Peter Mitchell, the legislature that resulted from that election approved Confederation by a margin of 38 to 1. In the 1867 federal election the Anti-Confederates won five of New Brunswicks fifteen seats in the Canadian House of Commons, while in Nova Scotia and elsewhere, opponents of confederation were predominantly Liberals and supporters were predominantly Tories, in New Brunswick the debate blurred party lines. Tilley later joined the government of Sir John A. Macdonald, both Anti-Confederate and Confederate forces were mixtures of Tories and Reformers. By 1870, the Confederate and Anti-Confederate parties had dissolved and were replaced by the old Liberal, joseph Howe, The Briton Becomes Canadian 1848–1873. Kingston & Montreal, McGill-Queens University Press
10.
Rodolphe Lemieux
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Rodolphe Lemieux, PC, FRSC was a Canadian parliamentarian and long time Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons. He was born in Montreal as the son of a Customs officer, after a career as a journalist, lawyer and law professor he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1896 election as a Liberal. He was a follower of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and, in 1904 became Solicitor General of Canada in Lauriers Cabinet. He subsequently served as Postmaster General of Canada, Minister of Labour and Minister of Marine and his Deputy Minister in the Department of Labour was future Prime Minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King. In 1907, Laurier sent Lemieux to Japan to defend Canadian immigration policies which were discriminatory against the Japanese and he succeeded in obtaining an agreement from Japan to curtail emigration of its citizens to Canada. He also continued in his pursuits, becoming a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1908. In the 1911 election, Lemieux engaged in a series of public debates before audiences of thousands with nationalist leader Henri Bourassa who was threatening the Liberals base in Quebec. The Liberals retained a majority of seats in the province but lost government because of its loss of seats in Ontario, Lemieux was a sharp critic of the Conservative government of Robert Borden accusing it of putting the interests of the British Empire ahead of those of Canada. During World War I, Lemieux opposed conscription and supported Laurier during the Conscription Crisis of 1917, when Mackenzie King led the Liberals back to power in the 1921 election, he chose Ernest Lapointe as his Quebec lieutenant rather than Lemieux. Instead, he nominated Lemieux as Speaker of the House of Commons, Lemieux presided over the House during several minority governments. He was Speaker during the King-Byng Affair of 1926 and he remained Speaker when Governor General Byng appointed Arthur Meighen as Prime Minister rather than call an election. He attempted to rule in a neutral manner despite the charged atmosphere. Instead Lord Byng invited the Conservatives to form a government, in spite of assurances of support from the Progressive Party, the Conservatives were unable to maintain control of the House. Lemieux had to make several crucial rulings, five were appealed and one was overturned. Lemieux presided over three successive Parliaments and was the longest serving Speaker until Lucien Lamoureux broke the record in 1974, on June 30,1930, King appointed Lemieux to the Canadian Senate, where he served until his death in 1937. Rodolphe Lemieux – Parliament of Canada biography
11.
Legislative session
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In each country the procedures for opening, ending, and in between sessions differs slightly. A session may last for the term of the legislature or the term may consist of a number of sessions. These may be of fixed duration, such as a year, a session of the legislature is brought to an end by an official act of prorogation. In either event, the effect of prorogation is generally the clearing of all outstanding matters before the legislature, historically, each session of a parliament would last less than one year, ceasing with a prorogation during which legislators could return to their constituencies. While a parliament is prorogued, between two sessions, the legislature is still constituted – i. e. no general election takes place. In many legislatures, prorogation causes all orders of the body – bills, motions, prorogations should thus not be confused with recesses, adjournments, or holiday breaks from legislation, after which bills can resume exactly where they left off. In the United Kingdom, however, the practice of terminating all bills upon prorogation has slightly altered and this break takes place so as to prevent the upper house from sitting during an election campaign and to purge all upper chamber business before the start of the next legislative session. It is not uncommon for a session of parliament to be put into recess during holidays, governments today end sessions whenever it is most convenient, and often, a new session will begin on the same day that the previous session ended. In most cases, when parliament reconvenes for a new legislative session, 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. In the parliament of the United Kingdom, prorogation is immediately preceded by a speech to both chambers, with procedures similar to the Throne Speech. Instead, the speech is presented by the Lords Commissioners and read by the Leader of the House of Lords. Prior to 1977, it was common for the federal Parliament to have up to three sessions, with Parliament being prorogued at the end of session and recalled at the beginning of the next. This was not always the case, for instance the 10th Parliament went full term without prorogation, the practice of having multiple sessions in the same Parliament gradually fell into disuse, and all Parliaments from 1978 to 2013 had a single session. Since 1990, it has been the practice for the Parliament to be prorogued on the day that the House is dissolved so that the Senate will not be able to sit during the election period. However, on 21 March 2016, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the 44th Parliament, elected in 2013, would be prorogued on 15 April and that a second session would begin on 18 April. Prorogation is now a procedural device, the effect of which is to call the Parliament back on a particular date, in the Parliament of Canada and its provinces, the legislature is typically prorogued upon the completion of the agenda set forth in the Speech from the Throne. It remains in recess until the monarch, governor general, or lieutenant governor summons parliamentarians again, historically, long prorogations allowed legislators to spend part of their year in the capital city and part in their home ridings. However, this reason has become less important with the advent of rapid transcontinental travel, similarly, the provincial legislature for Ontario in Canada was prorogued in October 2012 under similar circumstances, and is alleged to have happened to avoid scrutiny on a number of issues
