The Adaptation of Parliament's Multiple Roles to COVID-19

Malloy, Jonathan

doi:10.1017/s0008423920000426

Cited by 21 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In terms of technology, privacy issues have been raised regarding the use of Zoom (Joint Technology Committee, 2020). There are also concerns about the quality and reliability of digital technology, which proved to be a concern for Canadian parliamentarians (Malloy, 2020). This raises questions about the digital divide—the inequalities between those who have regular and quality access to digital technologies and those who do not, as well as inequalities in technical competence and skill.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On April 28, 2020, Members of the House of Commons sat virtually using Zoom. The virtual sitting was the first of what will become a stand-in for regular proceedings, allowing the Members to fulfill some of their parliamentary duties while complying with physical distancing (see Malloy, 2020). As the legislative and executive branches look to digital technology to allow the business of government to continue, what about the judicial branch of Canada's government?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Trial by Zoom? The Response to COVID-19 by Canada's Courts

Puddister

Small

2020

Can J Pol Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

COVID-19 has made videoconferencing a regular occurrence in the lives of Canadians. Videoconferencing is being used to maintain social ties, run business meetings—and to uphold responsible government. On April 28, 2020, Members of the House of Commons sat virtually using Zoom. The virtual sitting was the first of what will become a stand-in for regular proceedings, allowing the Members to fulfill some of their parliamentary duties while complying with physical distancing (see Malloy, 2020). As the legislative and executive branches look to digital technology to allow the business of government to continue, what about the judicial branch of Canada's government? Courts are an essential service. This is best articulated by the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia: “The fact is, the Courts cannot close. As the third branch of government, an independent judiciary is vital for our Canadian democracy to function. It is never more important than in times of crisis” (Wood, 2020). In this analysis, we seek to understand how courts have responded to COVID-19 and the challenges of physical distancing through the use of digital technologies. This is accomplished through a systematic review of COVID-19 statements and directives issued from all levels of court across Canada. We briefly compare Canada to the United States, a jurisdiction that demonstrates greater openness to technology.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trial by Zoom? The Response to COVID-19 by Canada's Courts

Puddister

Small

2020

Can J Pol Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…legislatures decided to close their legislative sessions, deferring policy-making leadership and responsibilities to the state governor, opting not to continue to meet and legislate. The judiciary branch in both countries continued to conduct businesses and hear cases virtually, albeit at reduced capacity (Malloy 2020;Puddister and Small 2020;Rayment and VandenBeukel 2020).…”

Section: Origin Of Protective Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Policy Response and the Rise of the Sub-National Governments

Adeel

Catalano

et al. 2020

Canadian Public Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We examine the roles of subnational and national governments in Canada and the USA vis-à-vis protective public health response in the onset phase of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This period was characterized in both countries by incomplete and incorrect information as well as the uncertainty regarding which level of government should be responsible for which policies. The crisis represents an opportunity to study how national and subnational governments respond to such policy challenges. In this paper, we present a unique dataset which catalogues the policy responses of US states and Canadian provinces as well as those of the respective federal governments: the Protective Policy Index (PPI). We then compare the US and Canada along several dimensions including: the absolute values of subnational levels of the index relative to the total protections enjoyed by citizens, the relationship between "early threat" (as measured by the mortality rate near the start of the public health crisis) and the evolution of the PPI, and finally, the institutional/legislative origins of the protective health policies. We find that the subnational contribution to policy is more important for both the US and Canada as compared to their national-level policies, and is unrelated in scope to our "early threat" measure. We also show that the institutional origin of the policies as evidenced by COVID-19 response differs greatly between the two countries and has implications for the evolution of federalism in each.

show abstract

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has necessarily affected the operation of Canada's Parliament and, thus, the activities of Members of Parliament (MPs) (Malloy, 2020; Rayment and VandenBeukel, 2020). Here, we explore how the pandemic has affected the representational activities of individual MPs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%