View From the Legislature

For most Canadians, the most profound part of the democratic process is voting. The ability to anonymously cast a vote for the candidate of your choice is truly at the heart of our free and democratic process. Yet there are many functions that happen out of sight of most of the electorate that also show the elegance of our democracy.

I have had the opportunity to witness up front the way in which our democratic institutions respond to an election. Personally, I have experienced being re-elected into opposition, been elected from opposition into government and in the most recent campaign re-elected from government back into government. And while these experiences are clearly different, there are also some similarities.

One of the things that happens during every election within the professional public service is the preparation of what is known as transition binders. These are essentially extensive briefing materials on every department of government. Through this preparation, the public service is prepared if a new government is elected or a new minister is appointed into a department following an election. This process happens quietly behind the scenes but is important to ensuring that regardless of the outcome of an election, the work of government is able to resume fairly quickly after an election.

In addition, while election night shows voters who they have collectively voted for as a government and individual representatives, that democratic decision does not come into effect immediately. In the case of Manitoba, following election night, Elections Manitoba must first certify the results of the election. Elections Manitoba is an independent office which is in charge of running elections and is headed by the Chief Electoral Officer of Manitoba. Once the results of the election are certified, those individuals who were elected are able to take the Oath of Office and officially become MLAs. This is generally a two-week process. So, for example, those of us who were elected as Progressive Conservative candidates took our Oath of Office on Wednesday September 25th, officially making us MLAs for our respective constituencies, more than two weeks after election night.

Once MLAs have taken the Oath of Office, the Manitoba Legislature can be recalled into session and the work of the Legislature can begin again. In anticipation of this, the staff of the Manitoba Legislature hold orientation seminars for new MLAs to give them a quick understanding of issues that range from the rules and procedures of the Legislature to where to park.

From voting day, to government transition procedures, to officially taking the oath of office to orientation seminars, there is something remarkable about how a mature democracy functions. And while we may hardly notice these activities or take them for granted, there are still many countries in the world where power transfers not through an orderly set of rules, but through revolution and bloodshed. We are truly blessed to live in the country that we do and with the democratic institutions that we have. It is something worth honouring not just on election day, but every day.