lesson 5: the legislature judiciary and bureaucracy Flashcards
What are the Five roles of the parliament and public service?
Legitimizer, policy maker, creator, financier, scrutineer
legitimizer
Legitimize the actions of government
Actions taken in government are rooted in law, passed by parliament
policy maker
Role to pass bills formulated by the executive branch
Discuss and approve and refine government decisions as they go through legislature
creator
Discuss and debate their mandates, structures, and powers through committee work and question period (reviews ministerial decisions)
most important role in parliament and public service
Scrutineer
financier
Gov spending and raising of rev needs to be approved by parliament
Scrutineer
laws are implemented as intended, if they need to be changed, promote accountability amongst officials, economy efficiency in public programs, discover abuses of public authority, allow parliamentarians to be liaison agents
Ministerial responsibility
Confidence rule
Ministers are accountable for decisions of their department
something goes wrong who is responsible ?
ministers
officers of parliament
Report to parliament
Accounting officers
Hold accountability for departments
what is Judicial administration
Refers to the operations of the court
Organization management, and operations of courts and court system
is the justice process slow or fast
slow
What are the types of provincial courts?
Lower courts, superior courts, appeal courts
Provincial (lower) courts
Lower provincial courts
Most criminal offences
Money and family matters
and specialized like youth courts
superior courts
More serious civil and criminal cases
Used to Appeal lower courts matters
appeal courts
From the superior courts
Reverse judges decisions possibly
Federal pay, provinces administer
types of fed courts
Federal court, tax court, federal court of appeal
fed court
Federal laws and admin agencies
Intellectual property, civil cases related to terrorism
tax court
Tax assessment appeals
Federal court of appeal
Appeals from federal and tax court
supreme court
Highest level of court in canada
Decisions are final from here
What are the 3 aspects of court administration?
Judicial independence, judicial impartiality, case flow management
what is Judicial independence
judges to perform adjudicative function free from external influence
Judicial impartiality – what is it?
Decisions based only on relevant laws and facts presented in court
protect judges from external influence, don’t prevent public of being critical of a judgement made by a court
judges are….
On their own
Free agents
judges are not
public servants and not under management
Caseflow Management
How long it takes a case to work its way through the justice process
Courts and judges are responsible for how quickly cases proceed
Alt dispute resolution methods before going to court or trial – ex. Mediation
Administrative law
Intended as a check against arbitrary and inconsistent interpretation and application of laws
Those believing they have been wronged by administrative action can seek various forms of relief
exercise of discretionary power by government officials
charter
Guarantees canadians certain rights and freedoms
Discretionary admin decisions must abide by Charter guarantees and the values they reflect
