Free Essays

A Passage of a Bill Through the American and Canadian Governments

Continued from: Passage of a Bill Through American and Canadian Governments: Part 1

So, the first step in the life of a law is to "be born", or to get introduced to the government. Usually a bill gets proposed by a cabinet minister. The responsible minister calls for the drafting of legislation by the Department of Justice. After the draft is approved by the same minister, it is presented to the Cabinet Committee on Legislation and House Planning. Once this committee has approved the draft bill, it is then signed by the prime minister and introduced in the House of Commons in its first reading by the responsible minister. The law-child is born.

During first reading the title of the bill is read. As a rule, it is followed by a short explanation of its contents.

At the second reading, the bill is debated. Then a vote is taken on principle to approve or reject it in total. If it is "approved in principle," and it usually is, Guy remarks, the "child" is then considered by the appropriate standing committee, where it is given a clause-by-clause examination. It should be noted that money bills, unlike other bills, are not considered by standing committees, but go before the Committee of the Whole. After the committee has examined the "child", it sends it with all recommended amendments back to the House of Commons. During this period of the kid's life, known as a report stage, the opposition will debate the bill and try to change the amendments coming from the committee stage. All the final changes the government party wishes to make must also be made at this time, before the bill goes to its third reading.

During third reading Members of Parliament debate and vote on the bill. In case if revisions made during the committee stage are unacceptable to the government party, the bill can be rejected or the changes made to it can be disregarded. In almost all instances, however, the bill passes quickly through the House of Commons at its third reading and passes into the next period of its life.

On the following stage the child gets introduced in the Senate. In the Upper House of Parliament the bill proceeds through all the stages it had passed through in the lower House. The only difference between these two seemingly identical processes is that the second one is almost absolutely fake. In this case the Senate is expected to play a legislative-review role by acting as a check against the House of Commons. Yes, technically, the appointed house can reject any bill. Yet, it has usually not been able to do it effectively for a simple reason that even if the appointed body of Parliament rejects a bill once, the next time the House of Commons can pass the bill ignoring the Senate.

The last step in the "teen years" of the law-child is to be given Royal Assent. Once the bill is passed by both houses of Parliament, it is presented to the governor general who confers royal assent by signing it into a law. Many years ago this step used to be important, for the governor general had every right to refuse any bill to pass in the name of the British sovereign. Nowadays, however, this official act has become a habitual formality. The royal assent is followed by proclamation which is an authorized publication under the Great Seal of Canada. A new Canadian law has finally been established.

Continued here: Passage of a Bill Through American and Canadian Governments: Part 3