Table of Contents

Foreword The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson
Introduction Peter H. Russell and Lorne Sossin
Part One: The Events and Their Background
The 'Crisis': A Narrative Michael Valpy
A Crisis Not Made in a Day Gary Levy
Part Two: The Governor General's Decision to Prorogue
To Prorogue or Not to Prorogue: Did the Governor General Make the Right Decision? C.E.S. (Ned) Franks
The Governor General's Suspension of Parliament: Duty Done or a Perilous Precedent? Andrew Heard
Prime Minister Harper's Parliamentary 'Time Out': A Constitutional Revolution in the Making? Lorraine E. Weinrib
Part Three: Constitutional Conventions
Why the Governor General Matters Brian Slattery
When Silence Isn't Golden: Constitutional Conventions, Constitutional Culture, and the Governer General Lorne Sossin and Adam Dodek
Of Representation, Democracy, and Legal Principles: Thinking about the Impensé Jean Leclair and Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens
Part Four: Coalitions and Parliamentary Government
Coalition Government: When It Happens, How It Works Lawrence Leduc
Learning to Live with Minority Parliaments Peter H. Russell
The Coalition That Wasn't: A Lost Reform Opportunity Graham White
Part Five: Tensions in Canada's Democratic Culture
Western Canada and the 'Illegitimacy' of the Liberal-NDP Coalition Government Grace Skogstad
Parliamentary Democracy versus Faux Populist Democracy Jennifer Smith
Ultimately, the System Worked David R. Cameron
Contributors
Index

About the Author

Peter H. Russell is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto.
Lorne Sossin is Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.