Political Science
Please choose one of the following topics. As the readings are
provided here, you do not need to do a formal bibliography. However, you should
provide in-text references for any quotations or ideas taken directly from the readings.
1. Outline and assess the reforms to the Senate appointment process introduced by the
government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In your assessment, consider whether these
changes adequately address problems of democratic accountability and legitimacy of the
Senate.
Resources
You will find a description of the Trudeau governments process here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/independent-advisory-board-for-senateappointments.html
Macfarlane, E. (2019). The Renewed Canadian Senate: Organizational Challenges and Relations
with the Government. IRPP Study 71. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.
Heard, A. (2020). The Senate: A late blooming chameleon. In Bickerton & Gagnon, 81- 103.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (1998). Canadas Upper House: Do We Need the Senate?
Video. [This video provides some background to the Senate Debate prior to the Harper
governments attempts at reform. It is available online through the York library system].
This link provides a brief chronology of Senate reform in Canada:
www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/04/25/senate-reform-canada-chronology_n_5214302.html.
Continued on page 2
.
2. Explore the conflicting interpretations of the symbolic meaning of the monarchy for diverse
populations within Canada. In your view, can the monarchy serve as a unifying symbol for
Canadians?
Resources
Monarchist League of Canada, The Case for the Crown.
https://www.monarchist.ca/index.php/our-monarchy/canada-s-monarchy/the-case-for-thecrown
Sajnani, Damom (2015), Remembering the monarchy, forgetting coloniality: The elision of race
in Canadian Monarchy abolition debates. Canadian Ethnic Studies 47 (2): 137-163.
Smith, David E. (1999). Republican Tendencies. Policy Options 20(4): 8-11.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/quebec-and-the-royals-a-rocky-history-risks-anotherbump/article585297/
Labb, Stefan. (2017). End of a Royal Era. A new governor general. An aging Queen. A
government trying to reconcile with its Indigenous communities. Is Canada headed for its
fiercest debate yet over the monarchy?. https://www.opencanada.org/features/end-royalera/
3. The Constitution Act, 1867, devotes Part III to Executive Power. Outline the unwritten
constitutional rules that govern the behaviour of the political actors under this part with
particular focus on articles 9 and 11 and assess Peter Russells argument that the
constitutional conventions should be codified.
Resources
Constitution Act, 1867, Part III Executive Power.
Cyr, Hugo. (2017). On the Formation of Government. Review of Constitutional Studies, 22 (1),
103-141.
Heard, Andrew. (2005). Constitutional Conventions and Parliament. Canadian Parliamentary
Review 19 (summer): 19-22.
Peter H. Russell. (2010). The Need for Agreement on Fundamental Conventions of
Parliamentary Democracy. National Journal of Constitutional Law. 27: 205-215
