It is impossible for the entire chamber of the House of Commons or the Senate to study every piece of legislation in the detail required to create a law. Imagine attending a university where all classes were taught by all professors. Nothing would be accomplished, because the work is too immense.

Much like a corporate board, Parliament creates committees constituted of Members of Parliament for House of Commons committees and Senators for Senate committees.
These committees study pieces of legislation that relate to the committee’s mandate (i.e. Justice Committee, Finance Committee, International Trade Committee, etc…). 

Who goes on the committee?

A House of Commons committee has between 16-18 members and Senate committees have between 9-15 members. The proportion of seats a political party has in the House is the proportion that party will be allocated on the committee. For example, in the 42nd Parliament, the NDP has 44 of 338 seats in the House of Commons, or 13% of seats. On a 16-person committee, the NDP will be allocated 2 seats.

Each party leader gets to decide which member of their party will sit on certain committees. A Member of Parliament or a Senator may sit on more than one committee. Also, the parties can allocate members to replace another member due to illness, travel or other commitments.


What kind of committees exist?

There are three main types of committees:

1. Standing committees. These types of committees deal with bills related to their mandate. When a new parliament is created after an election, there is no need to create a new standing committee, it simply needs new members appointed. Thus these committees never fall and are always standing.
   
   
2. Legislative committees. These type of committees are put together ad hoc by the chamber and considers only the one bill referred to it. After the committee has done its work and reported back the chamber, it disbands. They may have no more than 15 members and the Speaker appoints the Chair for the committee.
   
   
3. Special committees. These type of committees are created by the chamber to study a specific matter that is determined to be of particular importance to the chamber. They may have no more than 15 members and must disband once they issue their final report.
   
   
4. Joint committees. These type of committees are created when a specific matter needs to be considered by both Houses of Parliament simultaneously. Once they have completed their work and issue a final report to both Houses of Parliament, the committee disbands.

How does a committee operate with a bill?

A bill can be referred either to a standing committee or a legislative committee. The committee will go through four major stages:

1. It will first consider the text of the bill itself and to approve or modify it in terms of language and accuracy, not content
   
   
2. The second stage is the hearing of witnesses. The committee will hear from Ministers, experts, and members of the public on the pros and cons of the bill.
   
   
3. After witnesses have been heard, the committee will go through the bill and vote on whether to accept, defeat or amend each clause of the bill. This step is known as clause by clause.
   
   
4. Finally, the committee will vote on the amended bill after the clause by clause. If the bill is approved, it goes back the chamber for second reading. If the bill is defeated at this vote in the committee stage, then the bill is defeated completely and dropped from the Order Paper.

Considering that very few bills are referred to a legislative committee and that standing committees have many pieces of legislation to consider, the committee stage for a bill can be quite time consuming.

So what can pro-lifers do?

As you can see, it is important that pro-life parliamentarians are on key committees. Pro-life members of a committee can propose pro-life amendments, defeat non pro-life amendments and ensure that strong pro-life voices are introduced as witnesses before the committee. Pro-lifers can also contact members of the committee when considering a bill that affects life issues.

The more pro-lifers we elect, the higher the chances of pro-lifers being on committees. To help elect more pro-life politicians, join RightNow today!

Added bonus!

Pro-life legislation is most likely not going to go to committees such as Industry, Indigenous Affairs, or International Trade. It is important to encourage leaders of political parties to put pro-life Members of Parliament and Senators on the following key standing committees:

House of Commons:

Senate: