Canadian Regional Council
Meeting
The annual meeting of the Canadian
Regional Council of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association was held in
Ottawa on June 6, 1992. Twelve Speakers and two deputy Speakers from Canada's
fourteen legislatures were in attendance along with the Chairman of the
Canadian Federal Branch, Senator William Doody, the Canadian Federal
Regional Representative Girve Fretz and a number of Clerks and other
observers from various legislatures. The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association, David Tonkin, was also in attendance.
The President of the Canadian
Region, Speaker Joan Sawicki of British Columbia opened the meeting and
the members were welcomed by Speaker John Fraser of the House of Commons
and Deputy Speaker Rhéal Belisle of the Senate.
Regional Representative Girve
Fretz reported on activities of the Working Party on CPA and proposed
changes to the constitution. Speaker Sawicki noted the need to create
opportunities for meetings of women parliamentarians in the context of CPA
conferences. Speaker Edward Clark of Prince Edward Island reported on the work
of the selection committee for a new Secretary General of CPA and announced
that the unanimous recommendation of the Committee was Arthur Donahoe,
former Speaker of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly.
In other business Speaker Tom
Lush of Newfoundland reported on plans for the Canadian Regional Conference
in July. Speaker Jean-Pierre Saintonge reported on arrangements for the
Symposium on Parliamentary Democracy to be held in September. Speaker Shirley
Dysart reported on plans for the 14th Atlantic Parliamentary Conference in
Fredericton in June 1992. The Deputy Speaker of the Northwest Territories
Legislative Assembly, Ludy Pudluck reported on the construction of a new
legislative building in the Territories
The Council also agreed that the
40th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference to be held in Canada in 1994 would
take place at the Convention Centre in Banff, Alberta. A proposal by the Centre
for Legislative Exchange for a seminar on the special characteristics of the US
political system to be held in Washington in September 1992 was also approved.
Thirty Second Canadian Regional
Conference, Newfoundland
The Thirty-Second Canadian Regional
Conference will be held in St. John's Newfoundland from July 26 - 31,1992.
Seven topics have been selected for discussion. These include: Trade Barriers
between Provinces and their economic consequences; Foreign and Domestic
overfishing on the Grand Banks; Health Care Rationalisation; Constitutional
Experiment and Referenda in Newfoundland and Labrador; Controlling the deficit;
Accountability of members; and Members private lives vs their public lives. How
much should the public know.