The proof is in the subpoenas: minority parliaments work in Nova Scotia too

In my research on Canada's recent experience with minority parliaments at the federal level, my largest conclusion was that minority parliaments have a much better ability to hold the executive to account than the traditional majority parliaments that are more familiar to Canadians. In particular, I found that the minority situation allowed parliamentary committees to take on a much larger role in the forcing the executive to account for its actions since the opposition members could unite to force the amending of bills, the holding of inquiries, and also the passing of motions calling for government action.

One of the reasons that research into minority parliaments has become so topical in Canada at present is that in recent years they have not only become more common at the federal level, but are also currently found in two provincial legislatures as well: namely the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and l'Assemblée nationale du Québec.

Sadly, due to a lack of time, I haven't had the chance to look at these assemblies to see if my findings from the federal level bear out in the provinces as well. However, yesterday's news that the Public Accounts Committee in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly had issued subpoenas demanding documents from eight Cabinet Ministers as well as the premier would certainly seem to indicate that committees in that legislature have been similarly empowered.

The documents in question relate to one Nova Scotia's new immigration programs and apparently had not been turned over for review despite repeated attempts from the province's Auditor General. Since I don't follow Nova Scotia politics all that closely (or at all) I don't want to pass any judgments on the situation in question and whether it was an appropriate use of the committee's power. However, from a strictly institutional and procedural stand point, it is really quite significant that the opposition members on the committee were able to join together and force the issuing of the subpoenas despite the objections of committee members from the governing Progressive Conservative Party.

Had the House of Assembly been in a majority situation, any attempt by the committee to scrutinize the government's actions would almost certainly have been blocked by government members, allowing the cabinet a free pass on the issue.

Moreover, this incident shows that if the two provincial opposition parties, the NDP and the Liberals, are able to cooperate, they could actually wrestle control of the legislative agenda away from the government, creating a more congressional situation for the duration of the minority. Whether that would be a positive development is in the eye of the beholder, but it certainly would make it much more difficult for the executive branch to implement its agenda without taking the time to bring the rest of parliament onside.