Federal Legislation – Introduction

Approximate duration: 30 minutes

Description: How does a bill progress through the House of Commons? Where are federal laws published? Learn about the process of making and creating federal laws and regulations.

What Do You know?

Before starting this module, test your baseline knowledge with the following questions. You will receive basic feedback on your answers that will be further explained by the content in the module. Good luck! These questions are just for practice: your results will not be recorded by the system.

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Consider the following scenario...

1. Federal Legislative Process
You are conducting a search related to the decriminalization of certain drugs. A colleague points you towards legislative research. Why is legislative research an important element in legal research?

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As you will learn in this module, legislation governs and is binding over case law, the courts, and administrative bodies. It is often determinative of the legal question you are researching and is therefore a crucial part of any legal research.

2. The Legislative Process
Which branch of the government is responsible for managing and administering the daily bureaucratic of the provinces?

The Executive

Feedback: Correct. The Executive is responsible for managing and administering the daily bureaucratic affairs of the province.

The Legislature

Feedback: Incorrect. The Legislature debates and creates provincial statutes.

The Judiciary

Feedback: Incorrect. The judiciary interprets and applies the law.

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3. Types of Legislation
What is a Bill - Which of the following statements are true?
(Click all that apply)

A bill is a binding piece of legislation.

Feedback: False.

A bill is a piece of legislation passed by a legislative body.

Feedback: False.

A bill is a piece of legislation currently before a legislative body.

Feedback: True.

A bill is a piece of legislation issued by the executive branch of government.

Feedback: False.

A draft or proposed piece of legislation making its way through the legislature becomes a bill once it has received Royal Assent.

Feedback: False. Once a bill receives Royal Assent, it becomes a governing statute.

4. Types of Legislation
There are various types of Legislation ie. bill, statute, regulation.
What is the distinction between a ‘bill’ and a ‘statute’?

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A bill is a proposed law being considered by a legislative body. Once it gets passed by that legislature and becomes binding, it is called a statute or act. Only legislative bodies can debate bills and create laws. The executive branch of government, or Cabinet, has only the power to issue statutory orders and regulations. This module will discuss these distinctions in greater detail.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module you will be able to:

Explain the importance of legislative research;
Understand the legislative process;
Distinguish between the various types of legislation (bills, statutes, regulations);
Describe and apply the various steps and strategies for determining and identifying relevant and binding legislation; and,
Locate Federal legislation using both print and electronic resources.

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Last Updated: 2014-09-08

1. Introduction to Federal Legislation

2. Bills

3. Legislative Research

Federal Legislation – Introduction

What Do You know?

Learning Objectives