Chief Government Whip (Canada)
Encyclopedia
In Canada
the Party Whip is the member of a political party
in the Canadian House of Commons
, the Canadian Senate
or a provincial
legislature
charged with ensuring party discipline
among members of the caucus
. The whip is also responsible for assigning offices and scheduling speakers from his or her party for various bills, motions and other proceedings in the House.
The party whip works to ensure that the number of MPs in the House or at committee meetings is adequate to win a vote if one is called. When a vote is called in the House, division bell
s ring until the whips for each party are satisfied that there are sufficient numbers of members of their own party present for the vote to proceed.
The whip's role is especially important when there is a minority government
or if the government has a slim majority, as the absence of a handful of MPs during a confidence vote can result in the defeat of the government.
Party discipline
is strict in Canada and MPs are expected to vote with the rest of their party in all but designated free votes.
In Canada, as in the United Kingdom
and other countries using the Westminster system
, there are three categories of whip that are issued on particular bills. These whips are issued to MPs in the form of a letter outlining Parliamentary schedule, with the sentence "Your attendance is absolutely essential" next to each debate in which there will be a vote, underlined one, two or three times according to the severity of the whip:
James E. Walker, Chief Government Whip from 1963 to 1966, commented: "Once you get beyond the taxicab radius of Ottawa, nobody seems to have heard of a Whip. For that matter, nobody in Ottawa, three blocks from the Hill, has ever heard of the Whip either!"
The position of Chief Government Whip is not a cabinet-level office, however, the Whip may receive a concurrent appointment such as minister without portfolio
or Minister of State
and sit in cabinet by virtue of that position.
For a time, the Reform Party of Canada
publicly styled their parliamentary whip with the title of "Caucus Coordinator" rather than Whip.
Current Whips in the Canadian House of Commons:
Current Whips in the Senate
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
the Party Whip is the member of a political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
, the Canadian Senate
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
or a provincial
Provinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
charged with ensuring party discipline
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
among members of the caucus
Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
. The whip is also responsible for assigning offices and scheduling speakers from his or her party for various bills, motions and other proceedings in the House.
The party whip works to ensure that the number of MPs in the House or at committee meetings is adequate to win a vote if one is called. When a vote is called in the House, division bell
Division bell
A division bell is a bell rung in or around a parliament to signal a division and thus call all members of the chamber so affected to vote in it.- In the United Kingdom :...
s ring until the whips for each party are satisfied that there are sufficient numbers of members of their own party present for the vote to proceed.
The whip's role is especially important when there is a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
or if the government has a slim majority, as the absence of a handful of MPs during a confidence vote can result in the defeat of the government.
Party discipline
Party discipline
Party discipline is the ability of a parliamentary group of a political party to get its members to support the policies of their party leadership. In liberal democracies, it usually refers to the control that party leaders have over its legislature...
is strict in Canada and MPs are expected to vote with the rest of their party in all but designated free votes.
In Canada, as in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and other countries using the Westminster system
Westminster System
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
, there are three categories of whip that are issued on particular bills. These whips are issued to MPs in the form of a letter outlining Parliamentary schedule, with the sentence "Your attendance is absolutely essential" next to each debate in which there will be a vote, underlined one, two or three times according to the severity of the whip:
- A Single Line Whip is a guide to what the party's policy would indicate, and notification of when the vote is expected to take place; this is non-binding for attendance or voting.
- A Two Line Whip, sometimes known as double line whip, is an instruction to attend and vote in a particular way, but without sanction; partially binding for voting, attendance required unless prior permission given by the whip.
- A Three Line Whip is a strict instruction to attend and vote in a particular way, breach of which could have serious consequences; binding for both attendance and voting. Non-attendance permission can be given by the whip but a serious reason is needed. Breach of a three-line whip can lead to expulsion from the parliamentary political group in extreme circumstances and may lead to expulsion from the party. Consequently, three-line whips are generally only issued on key issues, such as votes of confidence and supplyLoss of SupplyLoss of supply occurs where a government in a parliamentary democracy using the Westminster System or a system derived from it is denied a supply of treasury or exchequer funds, by whichever house or houses of parliament or head of state is constitutionally entitled to grant and deny supply. A...
. The nature of three line whips and the potential punishments for revolt varies dramatically among parties and legislatures.
James E. Walker, Chief Government Whip from 1963 to 1966, commented: "Once you get beyond the taxicab radius of Ottawa, nobody seems to have heard of a Whip. For that matter, nobody in Ottawa, three blocks from the Hill, has ever heard of the Whip either!"
The position of Chief Government Whip is not a cabinet-level office, however, the Whip may receive a concurrent appointment such as minister without portfolio
Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
or Minister of State
Minister of state (Canada)
A Minister of State is a junior cabinet minister in the Canadian Cabinet, usually given specific responsibilities to assist a senior cabinet minister in a specific area....
and sit in cabinet by virtue of that position.
For a time, the Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
publicly styled their parliamentary whip with the title of "Caucus Coordinator" rather than Whip.
Current Whips in the Canadian House of Commons:
- Chief Government Whip: Gordon O'ConnorGordon O'ConnorGordon James O'Connor, is a retired Brigadier-General, businessman, lobbyist, and current Canadian Member of Parliament and the Minister of State and Chief Government Whip....
- Deputy Government Whip: Harold AlbrechtHarold AlbrechtHarold Glenn Albrecht is a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party of Canada in the riding of Kitchener—Conestoga...
- Chief Opposition Whip: Chris CharltonChris CharltonChris Charlton, MP, MA is a German-born, Canadian politician from the City of Hamilton, Ontario. As a New Democrat, she has served as the Member of Parliament for Hamilton Mountain since 2006...
- Liberal Whip: Judy FooteJudy FooteJudy Foote is a Canadian politician from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. She represented the electoral district of Grand Bank in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1996 to 2007 as a member of the Liberal Party. Foote has been the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of...
Current Whips in the Senate
- Government Whip in the Senate: Consiglio Di NinoConsiglio Di NinoConsiglio Di Nino is a businessman and Canadian Senator.Born in Italy, Di Nino immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of 13...
- Deputy Government Whip in the Senate: Stephen GreeneStephen GreeneStephen Greene is a Canadian politician and a Conservative member of the Canadian Senate. He was appointed on the advice of Stephen Harper to the Senate on January 2, 2009...
- Opposition Whip in the Senate: Jim MunsonJim MunsonJim Munson is a Canadian Senator and retired journalist.Munson spent most of his journalism career with CTV, which he joined in 1979 after working for Broadcast News for several years. He served as the network's correspondent in Ottawa and then London, England...
- Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate: Elizabeth Hubley