One
reader of this blog
raised some good questions about the average Parliamentary sitting days we have here in Canada in response to last week's
post. Here's my best effort at the answers.
First, he wondered how elections skewed the figures. Ned Franks estimates that Parliament sits, on average, about seven fewer weeks (or 35 days) in an election year. Maclean's Aaron Wherry
crunched the numbers by decade, removing election years. His analysis suggests a downward trend.
Second, the reader also pointed out that this "downward trend" may not be entirely accurate as it dilutes fluctuations. The line, he argues, is more "spikey" than straight downward.
Third, he wondered if anyone knew if there were data on sitting dates pre-dating 1968, which is when the House of Commons website starts tracking. I don't know of any in one place, but there are
summaries of Canada's various Parliaments. A very quick eyeballing (i.e., not exact!) of the figures suggests "spikey" is the norm: in
1869 Canada's first Parliament sat for about 9 weeks, or 45 days; in
1909 it sat for about 17 weeks (or 85 days); during much of the Second World War, it
sat pretty much constantly; in
1956 it sat nearly 200 days.
Any aspiring number crunchers out there who want to do the more precise math?
I suppose underneath these questions are others ones, including does it matter? Do MPs have to sit in Parliament to get work done? Do the numbers of sitting days equate to a quality of outcome?
As you ponder that, give this
article, by CBC's
Neil Morrison, a read. In it, he points out that Australia's house sits for about 70 days a year and New Zealand's sat 93 days last year (although the UK's sits about 150 days).
Even in our own backyard our federal Parliament keeps pretty busy. The provincial legislatures of Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia range from 60 to 80 days per year. Over the past decade, Newfoundland averages 42 days. And voters didn't seem to mind. In 2007, it sat only 37 days, and the voters gave Premier Danny Williams the largest percentage of the popular vote since the province joined Confederation.