Public Law & Legislation (University of Ottawa CML 1104)

  • Craig Forcese (University of Ottawa Faculty of Law)

Introduction to legislation and public law, focusing on the structure of the Canadian legal system, including: sources of law, the federal legislative process and statutory interpretation; the legal system's constitutional basis; the organization of courts and tribunals in Canada and appeal processes; and the role of the courts in overseeing legislative and administrative action.

8 Practice 8 (Public Law) 8 Practice 8 (Public Law)

8.1 Practice 8 (Public Law) Description 8.1 Practice 8 (Public Law) Description

We continue our examination of Parliament, shifting attention to the Hosue of Commons.  Our first issue is: how do we select Members of Parliament.  And so we examine in great detail the right to vote and elections.  In this session, we examine the constitutional and statutory bases for the right to vote, and the basic mechanics of elections. 

Prior to the practice, listen to Podcast 8 House of Commons Pt 1 Right to Vote and Podcast 9 House of Commons Pt 2 Elections 1.  Also read Forcese, Dodek et al pp. 200-216.

In our practice, we will debate issues raised in these podcasts, but also will chart the course for our first full "citizen lawyer" exercise: tracking electoral financing.

8.2 Public Lawyering Project 2: Tracking Polticial Contributions 8.2 Public Lawyering Project 2: Tracking Polticial Contributions

In this project, we explore the Elections Canada political contributions disclosure data. By listening to the podcasts, you will learn a little bit about how elections law regulates contributions (that is, donations) to political actors in our system. In this project, you will “follow the thread” and prepare a (maxiumum) two page report (double or 1.5 spacing) on political donations by “Governor in Council” appointees in the period before their appointment.

That means you need to figure out what “Governor in Council appointees” are and find some examples. You need also to find some names of Governor in Council appointees, and then compare those names against the Elections Canada political contribution database. For this project, pick three such names and compare search for those names in the Elections Canada database. Play with the different databases. You will likely find that searching by “contributor” is the most useful approach.

In writing up your conclusions, I want to include details on what you searched for whom and observations on the following things: 1. Did you find any matches, and if so how sure are you about those matches? 2. What significance, if any, do you think political donations have in assessing the credentials of the appointee? 3. Did you notice any patterns between donations and appointment? 4. What changes would you make to the Elections Canada database to make it, in your view, more useful? 5. Any other observations.

The report is due no later than Practice 11 Oct 16 and should be delivered to me by email: cforcese@uottawa.ca.  Be prepared to discuss results in Practice 12.