In the Canadian parliamentary context, what would it mean for a particular political party to have a “veto”?

The Canadian Oxford Paperback Dictionary (Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2000, at page 1172) defines “veto” as a “constitutional right to reject a legislative enactment.” In other words, if, in the Canadian parliament, if a party had a veto, that party would be able to reject a bill of the government, regardless of how many other MPs have voted to the pass bill – even if a majority of the other MPs voted for the bill.

This being the case, there is never a formal veto power in the Canadian House of Commons. In any given situation, if majority of MPs vote “yes” for a bill, that bill will pass and become law (upon passage by the Senate and Royal Assent).

Therefore, when there is a majority government, unless there is a free vote, when the ruling party proposes a bill, that bill will pass, as the majority of MPs will vote “yes” for the bill. It does not matter if all of the other MPs (meaning those not from the ruling party) in the House vote against the bill. Majority wins.

If, however, there is either a minority government, or a coalition government, it is impossible to pass any bill without the support of the MPs of more than one party. Although this is not a “veto”, it does provide some power to opposition parties (this is the nature of a minority government).

By definition, if a particular party has only a minority of MPs, it cannot pass a bill on its own – to pass a bill, the consent of the majority of MPs is required. As a result, in such a situation, more than one party can have the power to stop a bill.

An example from the 40th Canadian parliament (December 2008).

In the 2008 federal government there are 308 MPs: 143 Conservative, 77 Liberal, 37 NDP, 49 Bloc, and 2 independents.
As a result, in order for a bill to pass, 155 “yes” votes are required.
With these numbers, assume for the moment that the Conservatives attempted to pass a bill.
On their own, they could not do it (they have only 143 votes’ not 155).
Also assume that the Liberals, NDP and all independents voted against this bill (total: 116). The passing of the bill would depend on the votes of the Bloc: if all Bloc MPs vote for the bill, it will pass; if all Bloc MPs vote against the bill, it will not pass.
Although, in this scenario, the Bloc arguably has some power, this is not a “veto” power, as the majority, whatever it is, would still win.
This would only be a veto power if the Bloc had the power to cause the bill to fail despite there a being a majority of MPs who had voted for the bill.

Updated December 2008

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Content last reviewed 17:41, 15 July 2009.