¹ Courtney, John C., “Recognition of Canadian Political Parties in Parliament and Law,” this JOURNAL 11 (1978), 33–60.Google Scholar

² Some exceptions are several articles in Gaboury, Jean Pierre and Hurley, James Ross (eds.), The Canadian House of Commons Observed (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1979)Google Scholar, and parts of Jackson, Robert J. and Atkinson, Michael M., The Canadian Legislative System: Politicians and Policy Making (2nd ed.; Toronto: Macmillan, 1980).Google Scholar

³ Stewart, John B., The Canadian House of Commons: Procedure and Reform (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 1977), xi.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴ This article is part of a larger study in progress on the Canadian House of Commons. It is based mainly on interviews conducted during 1979–1980 with the following former or present House leaders: Gerald Baldwin (PC), Walter Baker (PC), Tom Bell (PC), Gordon Churchill (PC), Stanley Knowles (NDP), George Mcllraith (Lib.), Jack Pickersgill (Lib.) and Yvon Pinard (Lib.). The only full-length study of the office of the House leader in Canada is an excellent thesis by Carter, Wendy, “The Role of the House Leader in Canada” (unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1973).Google Scholar Unfortunately we do not have a first-hand account of the role of the government House leader in a Canadian government to compare with the writings of Richard Crossman in the United Kingdom. See Crossman, Richard, The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister: Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons, Vol. 2 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976).Google Scholar See especially 162–65 and 307–20.

⁵ On the concepts of organizational adaptation and consolidation as applied to a legislature, see Davidson, Roger H. and Oleszek, Walter J., “Adaptation and Consolidation: Structural Innovation in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 1 (1976) 37–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶ Canada, House of Commons, Debates, July 12, 1946, 3994.

⁷ See Pickersgill, J. W., My Years with Louis St. Laurent: A Political Memoir (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1975), 36–37.Google Scholar Mr. King recorded in his diaries his concerns about Mr. Mackenzie's drinking habits. See Pickersgill, J. W. and Forster, D. F., The Mackenzie King Record, 1945–1946, Vol. 3 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970), 200–04Google Scholar, and 1947–1948, Vol. 4 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970), 26–27, 104–05, and 108–09.

⁸ Interview with J. W. Pickersgill, March 12, 1980.

⁹ See Stursberg, Peter, Lester Pearson and the Dream of Unity (Toronto: Doubleday, 1978), 60, 61, 75.Google Scholar Former MP and cabinet minister, Judy LaMarsh, disputes the claims of other participants that Mr. Pearson was an effective organizer of other participants in opposition: “Even with fifty people, Mike could not organize or communicate, so that what could have been welded into an effective small group, putting every talent to work where it was most useful was a shambles.” See LaMarsh, Judy, Memoirs of a Bird in a Gilded Cage (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969), 11.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Carter, “The Role of the House Leader,” 21.

¹¹ In 1974 the sessional idemnity for the House leader of the Official Opposition was set at $5,300. In July 1981, the House of Commons passed Bill C-83, An Act to amend the Senate and House of Commons Act, the Salaries Act, the Parliamentary Secretaries Act and the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act. It provided that effective July 1, 1980, the salary of the House leader of the Official Opposition would be $15,000 per year. That was the annual rate for the last six months of 1980, to be paid retroactively. As of January 1, 1981, the salary was set at $16,600. See Debates, July 9, 1981, 11370–385 and 11392–404 and Bill C-83, Sec. 41(4).

¹² To qualify for official recognition, a party must have 12 or more members in the House of Commons. The salary for House leaders of “recognized” third and fourth parties was set at $6,600 per annum as of July 1, 1980, rising to $7,200 per annum as of January 1, 1981, Bill C-83, Sec. 41(5).

¹³ See Page, Donald, “Streamlining the Procedures of the Canadian House of Commons. 1963–1966,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 33 (1967). 41–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁴ The single, best source on procedural changes since 1968 is Stewart, The Canadian House of Commons, passim.

¹⁵ Quoted in Carter, “The Role of the House Leader,” 38.

¹⁶ Jackson and Atkinson, The Canadian Legislative System, chap. 4. The authors were employed by the Legislative Secretariat within the Privy Council Office in 1971–72.

¹⁷ Ibid., 78.

¹⁸ Interview with Walter Baker, House leader for the Conservative government, November 9, 1979.

¹⁹ Letter from Professor John Stewart, former MP, to the author, October 20, 1979.

²⁰ See Simpson, Jeffrey, Discipline of Power: The Conservative Interlude and the Liberal Restoration (Toronto: Personal Library, 1980), chap. 1.Google Scholar

²¹ See, for example, Rusk, James, “Clark Tells MPs He'll Stay as Leader; Shuffles his Rivals,” The Globe and Mail, September 10, 1981, 1–2.Google Scholar

²² See the Standing Committee on Miscellaneous Estimates, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, March 28, 1972, for a discussion of the Legislative Secretariat.

²³ Baker interview.

²⁴ Letter from Professor John Stewart, cited above.

²⁵ Interview with Knowles, Stanley, House leader for the NDP, November 10, 1979.Google Scholar

²⁶ Fisher, Douglas and Crowe, Harry, “Parliament Buffs Retire,” Toronto Telegram, May 3, 1968.Google Scholar According to a former Conservative MP, Aiken, Gordon Mr, Churchill, Mr “regards politics as total war and the Grits as the enemy” (The Back-bencher—Trials and Tribulations of a Member of Parliament [Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974], 138).Google Scholar

²⁷ For a description of Standing Order 75C see Stewart, , The Canadian House of Commons, 250–58.Google Scholar

²⁸ Lavoie, Michael, “Four Backroom Bargainers Can Help Make or Break Trudeau,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1972, 7.Google Scholar

²⁹ Baker interview, cited above.

³⁰ Ibid.

³¹ Knowles interview, cited above.

³² Ibid.

³³ Stewart, , The Canadian House of Commons, 234.Google Scholar

³⁴ Interview with Baldwin, Gerald, November 11, 1979.Google Scholar

³⁵ Debates, April 8, 1981, 9072–74.