Constituency Influence in Parliament

A revealing look at parliamentary Private Members’ Business, assessing what MPs do, why they do it, and what effect it has.

This book examines the rules and conduct of Private Members’ Business to assess the crucial role of MPs in representing citizens and affecting policy decisions.

Canada’s parliamentary system has been characterized as “executive-dominant,” with governance focused on the “centre,” and scholars have paid little attention to the legislature and its members. Constituency Influence in Parliament illuminates how MPs, in their pursuit of various goals in the legislature, play an important representative role in shaping policy.

This critical volume offers the first full-scale examination of the rules and conduct of parliamentary Private Members’ Business and of the electoral and policy motivations of those who hold the country’s highest elected office. Kelly Blidook offers a thought-provoking assessment of the representational and policy dynamics that exist within the Canadian institutional structure. His examination of what MPs do, why they do it, and what effect it has, resurrects the relevance of Canada’s Parliament.