Norman Ward – författare

This study of parliamentary control of finance in Canada will special emphasis on the period after 1867 is an outgrowth of an interest in the House of Commons on the part of its author which earlier produced The Canadian House of Commons: Representation. The author’s main purpose has been to examine the parliamentary side of public expenditure, as distinct from the influence of the Department of Finance and the Auditor General; both these institutions appear frequently in the text, but the emphasis throughout is on the House of Commons. The book demonstrates how erratic the Commons’ record has been, ranging from the good to the very bad, and while recent developments in the House appearing promising, they do not yet offer convincing evidence of a permanent change towards effective scrutiny by it of expenditure by the executive. The Commons’ attitude reflects the attitudes of members and parties, which singly and collectively are under constant pressures, pressures that have militated against the adoption of either a parsimonious view of the public purse or a rigid insistence on fundamental principles. As a result, effective control of public spending has passed from legislative to executive hands, and the Commons is now in the position of trying to win back a share in the control for itself.

Norman Ward’s sound appreciation of matters governmental and his flair for communicating his own enthusiastic interest in them make this book a special treat. The information and analysis will prove invaluable to political scientists, politicians, civil servants, and newsmen; its manner will ensure that the reading of it will be thoroughly enjoyable.

Canadian Government Series, no. 11.

A STUDY of representation in a democratic legislature must be directed towards actual membership of the legislature and towards laws and practices governing the selection of members. The electoral system must be broadly viewed as embodying the devices by which constituencies are established and altered, the franchise which determines the extent of the electorate, and the provisions which are intended to control corrupt campaign tactics and otherwise prevent perversions of representation.

The first few decades after Confederation were years of bitter struggle over election laws. The result was that genuine reform of the electoral machinery in the public interest was a literal impossibility until well after the turn of the century. That honesty in elections became possible, and even profitable, was the result at least as much of forces beyond the reach of legislative enactment as of positive federal policies conscientiously adopted and administered.

The chronicle of this development, as it can be observed in several major sections of the electoral system, follows in these pages. In the first chapter the general nature of representation is discussed. The alteration of constituency boundaries after each decennial census is analysed in Part I. Membership in the legislature is examined in Part II. Part III covers the electoral machinery, both in its narrow aspect as a technique by which members of Parliament are returned, and in a broader sense as a large organization which includes the franchise, electoral corruption, and election expenses. Part IV comprises the conclusion.