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Prorogation is a prerogative act of the Crown, taken on the advice of the
Prime Minister. Prorogation ends a
session, but does not dissolve Parliament; the Speaker is still in office for
all purposes during a period of prorogation.
Similarly, the Prime Minister, Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries
remain in office and all Members of the House retain their full rights and
privileges.
Prorogation, like dissolution, abolishes all pending legislation and quashes
further committee activity. Thus, no committee can sit after a prorogation and
any bill of a previous session, in order to be proceeded with, must, in
principle, be introduced again as a new bill.
However, Standing Order 86.1 makes special provision for reinstating
Private Members’ bills at the same stage they had reached at the end of a
previous session. On occasion, with the
agreement of the House, government bills have also been reinstated, by way of a
motion, at the same stage they had reached in the previous session.
Committee work may also be revived either by motion in the House, or, if
a study was undertaken under the authority of a committee’s permanent mandate
as established in the Standing Orders, by motion in committee.
While pending legislation is abolished by prorogation, any outstanding Orders
or Addresses of the House for returns or papers are not; rather, they are
brought down during the following session without renewal of the Order. The same
is true, for example, for government responses to committee reports where
requested, and for responses to petitions. These Orders are in force from one
session to another, but are ended by dissolution.
Parliament can be prorogued through a speech by the Governor General in the
Senate Chamber, although this is merely a convention and not required by any
Standing Order or statute. When this method is chosen, the ceremony of
prorogation occurs in the following manner: the Secretary to the Governor
General usually informs the Speaker of the House of prorogation in a letter,
thus enabling the Speaker to announce it to the House beforehand. At the time
appointed, the Usher of the Black Rod arrives from the Senate, knocks on the
door of the Commons Chamber and enters to inform the House that the Governor
General (or the Governor General's representative) desires its attendance in the
Senate Chamber. The Speaker, in formal parade with the Clerks, the
Sergeant-at-Arms bearing the Mace, and the Members, stands at the bar of the
Senate Chamber to hear the speech closing the session. On completion of the
speech, the Speaker of the Senate reads out a message setting the date for the
new session. The Speaker of the House then returns in formal parade to his or
her chambers and the Members of the House of Commons disperse.
Parliament may also be prorogued by proclamation published in the Canada
Gazette. In recent years,
Parliament has been prorogued while the House is adjourned by this method, with
the date of the new session being fixed in the proclamation.
This date can be changed by means of a further proclamation.
The House has also in the past adjourned for a period of time,
reconvened, and Parliament has been prorogued shortly thereafter by proclamation
with the new session opening soon afterward.
Between a prorogation and the next session of the same Parliament, the House
is said to be "in recess", although the word is often loosely used to
refer to a long adjournment. "Adjournment", however, is technically
the termination by the House of its own sitting (by motion or pursuant to
Standing or Special Orders) for any period of time within a session. Unlike
dissolution and prorogation, adjournment does not quash all pending proceedings.
At the next sitting, the House transacts the business previously appointed and
all proceedings resume at the stage at which they were left before the
adjournment.
Dissolution terminates a Parliament and is followed by a general election.
The date of an election is set in accordance with the provisions of the Canada
Elections Act. Usually three
proclamations are issued at the time of dissolution.
The first is for the dissolution itself.
The second usually appears simultaneously; it calls the next Parliament
and informs with regard to the issuance of writs of election, the date set for
polling and the date set for the return of the writs.
The third proclamation fixes the date on which Parliament is summoned to
meet, sometime following the return of the writs. The date of this summons may
be changed through the issuance of a further proclamation.
