As the Conservative government reconvenes Parliament tomorrow, its party will maintain two of its official policies on students, despite attempts to change them this weekend.
The Conservative Party of Canada held a policy convention from Nov. 13 to 15 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the first under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
One resolution that reached the floor on Saturday, P-208, would have removed the requirement to assess parental income and assets in applications for federal student loans. This resolution was defeated.
Another resolution, P-209, would have removed the requirement for students to pay into employment insurance for summer jobs. This resolution was also defeated.
These policies would have been included into official Conservative party policy, not adopted as bills in the House. Parties use their policy handbooks as guides for drawing up legislation.
It’s up to the government or private members to introduce written bills once Parliament is underway.
Given the state of the economy, finance and industry will be key departments over the coming parliamentary session.
Opening of Parliament
The first session of the 40th Parliament will begin at 9:55 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
As per the Constitution, the first order of business will be to elect a new Speaker of the House. There are several formalized steps that are taken in advance of this event.
The current speaker – Peter Milliken, Liberal MP for Kingston and the Islands – has held the post since 2001. He had no opposition upon Parliament’s reconvening in 2004 and won easily in 2006.
The Speaker is elected by secret ballot of sitting MPs, after each candidate gives a speech. There are several candidates who have put their names forward, including Andrew Scheer, Conservative MP for Regina-Qu’Appelle, and Barry Devolin, Conservative MP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, among others.
There have been rumours that the Conservative party would like to see Milliken replaced with a Conservative MP Speaker, since that would provide another Tory seat.
While a number of candidates for Speaker are unilingual, Hill staffers who convened a press meeting this morning stated there are no laws requiring a Speaker to be bilingual. However, the bilingual nature of Parliamentary proceedings would present quite a challenge to a unilingual speaker.
The House also has to elect a deputy speaker, as well as chairs of Committees of the Whole.
Within 10 days of resumption the House will also appoint members to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, who then prepare a report proposing membership for all other House committees.
The speech from the throne will occur Wednesday at 2 p.m. The House will convene earlier at 1:25 p.m. to roll through a series of formalized procedures.