Top 10 ideas for improving Question Period...

OTTAWA, Sept. 17 /CNW/ - The Public Policy Forum and the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians invite you to view Top 10 Ideas for Improving Question Period and work of Parliament.

1. Give the Speaker, as presiding officer, the authority to decide who gets to ask questions during Question Period.
2. Speaker must have (and use!) authority to maintain order and decorum.
3. More time should be allowed for questions and more substantive answers. A good place to start is a 1 minute time limit.
4. Devote one day of the week for questions to the Prime Minister, and assign ministers to specific days.
5. Media can play a part by reconsidering their role in covering the House and Question Period, and look at means to encourage positive changes in tenor and tone of Question Period, and other Parliamentary proceedings.
6. Question Period should focus on accountability - i.e. any member should be able to question the government, and the Minister should answer only that question (or related query)
7. Members should be encouraged to ask questions derived from the concerns of their constituents, not just canned questions along partisan lines.
8. Committee chairs and members should be appointed for the life of the Parliament (committees function better with stable membership).
9. Reduce or eliminate the role of Parliamentary Secretaries in committees. They politicize the committee process.
10. Re-engage committees more in reviewing the spending estimates of governments, so that meaningful program review can occur.

http://www.ppforum.ca/pollara-poll

For further information:

Serge Arpin
Vice-President, Public Policy Forum
613-238-7858 x296
[email protected]