Birds of a Feather? Loyalty and Partisanship in the Reformed Canadian Senate

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Jason Robert VandenBeukel ◽  
Christopher Cochrane ◽  
Jean-François Godbout
Keyword(s):  
Legislative Process ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
Party Discipline ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Scaling Algorithms

Abstract Since 2015, the Canadian Senate has undergone a series of reforms designed to make it more independent, ideologically diverse, and active in the legislative process. We use loyalty scores and vote scaling algorithms to situate the voting behaviour of senators, focusing primarily on the 41st and 42nd Parliaments (2011–2019), the period just before and after the changes, respectively. We find that the reforms have led to a loosening of party discipline across all parties and caucuses but that independent senators appointed under the reformed process are the most likely supporters of the government's agenda. We also find that the Senate has become more willing to use its formal powers.

The Parliament

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
George Gerapetritis
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Party Discipline ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Parliamentary System ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Key Features ◽  
The Republic ◽  
High Level

The chapter focuses on the Greek parliamentary system in a comparative perspective from a constitutional and political viewpoint. Main concerns are the constitutional doctrine of checks and balances, the level of parliamentary accountability and scrutiny, and the quality of the legislative process. The first section examines the Hellenic parliament within the constitutional architecture. Two key features are identified: the wide privilege and immunities enjoyed by the parliament, both as a constitutional agency and individually by parliamentarians; and the interpolarity of the parliament vis-à-vis the executive, the president of the republic, the judiciary, and international organizations. The second section examines parliament within political practice. Three key characteristics are identified thereof: majoritarian and divisive parliamentarism, clientelism and nepotism, and imbalanced parliamentarism. The chapter concludes that parliamentarism in Greece deteriorated, especially during the financial crisis, thus producing legal confusion and polynomy, a high level of party discipline and extreme accumulation of power to the executive, a very limited level of accountability and meritocracy, and the rise of extremist and populist parties in parliament.

A nonpartisan legislative chamber: The influence of the Canadian Senate

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406882091134
Author(s):  
Aengus Bridgman
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Party Discipline ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Legislative Influence

Measuring relative legislative influence is notoriously difficult, particularly in bicameral systems where two chambers have similar formal powers. Recent changes to the Canadian legislature offer a unique opportunity to understand how an upper house liberated from party constraints impacts that houses’ legislative influence. I leverage an original panel data set matching lobbyist activity to parliamentarian characteristics and responsibilities and, using a difference-in-differences design, compare Members of Parliament to Senators, both independent and partisan. I find that independent Senators receive disproportionately more attention from lobbyists both after the changes and as the independent composition of the Senate grows. This article offers a time-variant measure by which perceived influence can be evaluated and contributes to the extant literature on intercameral relationships, partisanship, the legislative process, and party discipline and cohesion.

Assessing the Impact of Televised Debates: The Case of the 1988 Canadian Election

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Blais ◽  
M. Martin Boyer
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Media ◽  
Party Support ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Televised Debates

A methodology is proposed for assessing the impact of televised debates on electoral outcomes, and it is applied to a specific case, that of the 1988 Canadian election. We present four tests of the debates' impact: first, a cross-sectional group comparison, which contrasts the voting behaviour of those who did and those who did not see the debates; secondly, a panel analysis of the shift in party support, before and after the debates, among those who watched the debates and those who did not; thirdly, a panel study of the impact of reactions to the debates on voting behaviour; and, fourthly, a time-series analysis, which examines the evolution of vote intentions over the course of the campaign and, more precisely, before and after the debates.It is argued that because non-watchers are influenced by what their friends or the media tell them about the debates, the first two designs, based on a comparison of debate watchers and non-watchers, are not appropriate. The empirical analysis of the 1988 Canadian election substantiates this point. While these first two designs seem to indicate no debate impact, panel reaction and time-series analyses show that the debates had a substantial and enduring impact on the vote and that they were decisive in the contest for second place between the Liberals and the NDP.

The Mining Ordinance of Northern Rhodesia: A Legislative History 1924–1958

1979 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Slinn
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
World War ◽  
Legislative History ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Mining Law ◽  
Second World

Shirley Zabel's account of the genesis of the Gold Coast Marriage Ordinance of 1884, published elsewhere in this Journal, demonstrates how much a legislative history can teach us about the way in which colonial law-makers went about tackling the formidable problems which had to be faced in what were still the early stages of modern British administration in West Africa. It is proposed in this article to turn to colonial Zambia and to look at the very different field of mining legislation, concentrating on the middle and later period of colonial rule before and after the Second World War. Compared with the early days in West Africa, bureaucratic techniques had been refined and communications greatly improved. This did not always lead to speed in the legislative process. Zabel has shown that the Gold Coast Ordinance was six years in the making; the Northern Rhodesia Mining Ordinance had a gestation period, including several miscarriages, of no less than thirty years prior to its enactment in 1958, despite the admitted need in the 1920s to replace obsolete legislation dating from the days of British South Africa Company rule. The span of time involved, however, has advantages for the legal historian—an opportunity to examine in relation to a single ordinance the colonial legislative process and the forces which, over an extended period, affected the shaping of a vital piece of legislation. It is hoped also that the fruits of this examination will serve as a useful background to studies of modern Zambian mining law.

Deformation Replication

1970 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 280-281
Author(s):  
J. Temple Black
Keyword(s):  
Cutting Speed ◽  
Machining Process ◽  
Depth Of Cut ◽  
Rake Face ◽  
Orthogonal Machining ◽  
Aluminum Chips ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Glass Knife ◽  
Very High

Tool materials used in ultramicrotomy are glass, developed by Latta and Hartmann (1) and diamond, introduced by Fernandez-Moran (2). While diamonds produce more good sections per knife edge than glass, they are expensive; require careful mounting and handling; and are time consuming to clean before and after usage, purchase from vendors (3-6 months waiting time), and regrind. Glass offers an easily accessible, inexpensive material ($0.04 per knife) with very high compressive strength (3) that can be employed in microtomy of metals (4) as well as biological materials. When the orthogonal machining process is being studied, glass offers additional advantages. Sections of metal or plastic can be dried down on the rake face, coated with Au-Pd, and examined directly in the SEM with no additional handling (5). Figure 1 shows aluminum chips microtomed with a 75° glass knife at a cutting speed of 1 mm/sec with a depth of cut of 1000 Å lying on the rake face of the knife.

The Clinical, Roentgenological and Morphological Effects of an Acute Exposure of Phosgene on the Lungs of Dogs

1971 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 236-237
Author(s):  
R. F. Bils ◽  
W. F. Diller ◽  
F. Huth
Keyword(s):  
Latent Period ◽  
Chemical Industry ◽  
Toxic Substance ◽  
Lung Edema ◽  
X Rays ◽  
Beagle Dogs ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Morphological Alterations ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Electron Microscopes

Phosgene still plays an important role as a toxic substance in the chemical industry. Thiess (1968) recently reported observations on numerous cases of phosgene poisoning. A serious difficulty in the clinical handling of phosgene poisoning cases is a relatively long latent period, up to 12 hours, with no obvious signs of severity. At about 12 hours heavy lung edema appears suddenly, however changes can be seen in routine X-rays taken after only a few hours' exposure (Diller et al., 1969). This study was undertaken to correlate these early changes seen by the roengenologist with morphological alterations in the lungs seen in the'light and electron microscopes.Forty-two adult male and female Beagle dogs were selected for these exposure experiments. Treated animals were exposed to 94.5-107-5 ppm phosgene for 10 min. in a 15 m3 chamber. Roentgenograms were made of the thorax of each animal before and after exposure, up to 24 hrs.

Ultrastructure of Melanin Formation in Curvularia sp., Alternaria sp., and Drechslera Sorokiniana

1977 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 398-399
Author(s):  
M. H. Wheeler ◽  
W. J. Tolmsoff ◽  
A. A. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Phosphate ◽  
Thielaviopsis Basicola ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Potassium Phosphate Buffer ◽  
Transmission Microscopy ◽  
Electron Transmission ◽  
Melanin Formation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Alternaria Sp ◽  
Electron Transmission Microscopy

(+)-Scytalone [3,4-dihydro-3,6,8-trihydroxy-l-(2Hj-naphthalenone] and 1,8-di- hydroxynaphthalene (DHN) have been proposed as intermediates of melanin synthesis in the fungi Verticillium dahliae (1, 2, 3, 4) and Thielaviopsis basicola (4, 5). Scytalone is enzymatically dehydrated by V. dahliae to 1,3,8-trihydroxynaphthalene which is then reduced to (-)-vermelone [(-)-3,4- dihydro-3,8-dihydroxy-1(2H)-naphthalenone]. Vermelone is subsequently dehydrated to DHN which is enzymatically polymerized to melanin.Melanin formation in Curvularia sp., Alternaria sp., and Drechslera soro- kiniana was examined by light and electron-transmission microscopy. Wild-type isolates of each fungus were compared with albino mutants before and after treatment with 1 mM scytalone or 0.1 mM DHN in 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. Both chemicals were converted to dark pigments in the walls of hyphae and conidia of the albino mutants. The darkened cells were similar in appearance to corresponding cells of the wild types under the light microscope.

Evaluation of Freezing Methods by Low Temperature X-Ray Diffraction

1977 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 330-333
Author(s):  
T. Gulik-Krzywicki ◽  
M.J. Costello
Keyword(s):  
Biological Materials ◽  
Molecular Organization ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Glass Capillary ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Rate Dependent ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Freeze Etching ◽  
Diffraction Patterns ◽  
Set Up

Freeze-etching electron microscopy is currently one of the best methods for studying molecular organization of biological materials. Its application, however, is still limited by our imprecise knowledge about the perturbations of the original organization which may occur during quenching and fracturing of the samples and during the replication of fractured surfaces. Although it is well known that the preservation of the molecular organization of biological materials is critically dependent on the rate of freezing of the samples, little information is presently available concerning the nature and the extent of freezing-rate dependent perturbations of the original organizations. In order to obtain this information, we have developed a method based on the comparison of x-ray diffraction patterns of samples before and after freezing, prior to fracturing and replication.Our experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 1. The sample to be quenched is placed on its holder which is then mounted on a small metal holder (O) fixed on a glass capillary (p), whose position is controlled by a micromanipulator.

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