A Visit to Ontario Parliament

Recently I was in Toronto in connection with my daughter's graduation ceremony. It was just after Ontario had its 41st general election and a new government headed by Kathleen Wynne was formed. She is Ontario's first female Premier and the first openly gay head of government in Canada. All these aroused the curiosity in me to attend the session which had just begun. I had attended the first session of our tenth Parliament and I wanted to see the similarities or the differences between the two. One morning I took the subway to Queen's Park and walked across to the huge majestic building which houses the Ontario Parliament. I walked in, signed my name, walked past the metal detector and took the elevator to the third floor and entered the chamber. The only thing that the security personnel ensured was that, I was not carrying a mobile phone or a camera.  The usher handed me a paper with a diagram of the seating arrangement of the members on one side and the names of the members on the other side which helped me to identify members when they were speaking.

Canada has a mixed population with people from different parts of the world and this mosaic of people is evident in the house. I could see members from many different ethnic communities like the Asians i.e. Chinese, Koreans, South Asians or people from Indian and Pakistani background, Blacks etc. The   parliamentary norms and practices are, however, based on age old tradition and conventions inherited from the British. This became clear in the way the session started. At 10 a.m. Speaker Levac in his black robe, white collars and a large black tricorn hat made his grand entrance in the Chamber in a procession led by the Sergeant-at-Arms who wore a black swallow-tail jacket, a black tricorn hat, a sword on his left side and a four feet long copper mace richly gilded with two diamonds, on his right shoulder. The mace has a history and dates back to 1867. It symbolises the authority of the Speaker but in olden days it signified the permission granted by the Crown to convene the Parliament. The Clerk with three other officials, also in black robes and tricorn hats, walked behind the Speaker. The Sergeant-at-Arms walked up, the Speaker ascended the dais made of solid mahogany with two sculptured lions on columns, stood for a few seconds in front of his chair facing the chamber and then assumed his seat. The Sergeants-at-Arms placed the mace on the Clerk's table where it remains as long as the Speaker is present. Then he along with the officials bowed to the Speaker and took his seat at the other end of the Chamber, opposite the Speaker's dais. The Clerk and the Table Clerks sat at a table in front of the Speaker.

The Speaker’s chair.

The morning session began with a prayer. The Speaker stood up, made a cross sign and recited a short prayer which was followed by another short prayer. He then assumed his seat. What appeared to be new as well as interesting and different from our parliamentary practice was the introduction part. Before the Question-Answer session, the Speaker announced “Introduction”. The members of the Parliament who had their family members or guests present in the visitor's gallery took turns to introduce them to the parliament amid applause from the house.  When the introductions were over, the Speaker again announced “Introduction” thrice waiting for any further introductions, before starting the day's business.

The rectangular shaped Chamber has at its one end, the entrance to the Chamber and the elevated Speaker's dais at the other end. On the right side of the Speaker sits the treasury bench and on the left side is the opposition. The Premier occupies the sixth chair starting from right hand side of the Speaker. The leader of the opposition also occupies the sixth chair in the same order and the leader of the third party also occupies the sixth chair from the other end.

An interesting feature of the Ontario Parliament was the presence of the Pages. The pages have been in the Legislative Chamber since 1893. Originally they were young boys and men who were employed by the Legislative Assembly to serve the Legislative Chamber. But today, these pages are school students selected from all over Ontario. The pages programme is very competitive and those who qualify must maintain 80% grade average with involvement in extracurricular activities in their school as well as in the community and must be well liked by their peers. Since 1971, girls have been included in the programme. Before the morning session began, the pages dressed in black trousers, white shirt, black blazers and black shoes marched through the chamber into one of the side rooms. The girls had their hair neatly tucked in a bun. Then very quietly, the pages moved to and fro carrying small trays filled with glasses of water and placed them on the member's desks before the session began. Eight pages sat on the steps of the Speaker's dais, four on each side. These pages carry messages written in little chits from one member to the other or from the Clerk to a member or to the Speaker.  I think this allows the young students to familiarise themselves with the democratic and parliamentary practices and can serve as a training ground for the future parliamentarians.

The Speaker sat on a huge wooden chair with dark green leather upholstery with intricate wood carvings with no desk or table in front of him.  There is an interesting anecdote about this Speaker's chair. It dates back to Speaker Rupert Wells in 1874 when tradition required that after the end of the term, the Speaker would carry the chair home with him. This continued till 1940s when Speaker Clark refused to follow the tradition on the ground that his apartment at Windsor was not big enough to hold the huge Chair. Since then the Chair has remained in the Chamber and is being used by successive Speakers.

Every day for one hour there is question and answer session. The Speaker carries a long list of members who would participate in this session.   A couple of times, during the question-answer session when there was slight pandemonium in the house, Speaker Levac stood up which was indication that the house must be quiet.  Even when there was too much applaud, the Speaker stood up and the house immediately quietened down. Each time the Speaker stood up, the eight pages, sitting on the steps of the dais, in front of him also stood up.

Exactly after one hour of the Question-Answer session, the Speaker announced the adjournment of the house. Again in a ceremonial manner, the Sergeant-at-Arms marched up to the dais, bowed to the Speaker who stood up, picked up his tricorn hat and followed him out of the chamber ending the morning session.

I must say that attending the morning parliamentary session was a worthwhile experience, an experience that I shall never forget. The ease with which, even I as a foreigner entered the Parliament speaks of the accessibility of common man to this sacred and highest institution of the people. The traditions and the conventions that are followed only shows that history plays a very important part in their lives. The full attendance of the House indicates the respect the parliamentarians have for their elected office and honour the trust reposed on them by their voters. My only regret is that I could not stay longer to attend other sessions.