A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws.^[1] The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and other money bills. Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings.

In parliamentary systems of government, the legislature is formally supreme and appoints a member from its house as the prime minister which acts as the executive.^[2] In a presidential system, according to the separation of powers doctrine, the legislature is considered an independent and coequal branch of government along with both the judiciary and the executive.^[3]

The primary components of a legislature are one or more chambers or houses: assemblies that can debate and vote upon bills. A legislature with only one house is called unicameral. A bicameral legislature possesses two separate chambers, usually described as an upper house and a lower house, which often differ in duties, powers, and the methods used for the selection of members. Much rarer have been tricameral legislatures; the Massachusetts Governor's Council still exists, but the most recent national example existed in the waning years of caucasian-minority rule in South Africa.

In most parliamentary systems, the lower house is the more powerful house while the upper house is merely a chamber of advice or review. However, in presidential systems, the powers of the two houses are often similar or equal. In federations, it is typical for the upper house to represent the component states; the same applies to the supranational legislature of the European Union. For this purpose, the upper house may either contain the delegates of state governments, as is the case in the European Union and in Germany and was the case in the United States before 1913, or be elected according to a formula that grants equal representation to states with smaller populations, as is the case in Australia and the modern United States.

Because members of legislatures usually sit together in a specific room to deliberate, seats in that room may be assigned exclusively to members of the legislature. In parliamentary language, the term seat is sometimes used to mean that someone is a member of a legislature. For example, saying that a legislature has 100 "seats" means that there are 100 members of the legislature, and saying that someone is "contesting a seat" means they are trying to get elected as a member of the legislature. By extension, the term seat is often used in less formal contexts to refer to an electoral district itself, as for example in the phrases "safe seat" and "marginal seat".

See also[link]

• Legislative Assembly
• Legislative Council
• List of legislatures by country
• Parliamentary system

References[link]

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Mike Bost (born December 30, 1960) is a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 115th district where he has served since 1995.

Bost was a firefighter before entering politics and becoming a full-time state legislator and business owner. He graduated from Murphysboro High School, attended the University of Illinois Certified Firefighter II Academy, and served in the United States Marine Corps (1979–82). He and his wife Tracy have three children and six grandchildren.

Bost sponsors many firearm bills in support of the right to bear arms. He was a passionate opponent of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. In May 2012, upset over a bill to overhaul state pensions, Bost screamed and threw papers on the Illinois House floor because the House was only given twenty minutes to review and vote on a two-hundred page bill.^[1][2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Illinois General Assembly - Representative Mike Bost (R) 115th District Official IL House website
  • Bills Committees
• State Representative Mike Bost
• Project Vote Smart - Representative Mike J. Bost (IL) profile
• Follow the Money - Mike Bost
  • 2006 2004 2002 2000 1998 1996 campaign contributions
• Illinois State Representative Mike Bost Official Campaign Website
• Illinois House Republican Caucus - Mike Bost profile

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The Honourable Christy Clark MLA
35th Premier of British Columbia
Incumbent
Assumed office March 14, 2011
Lieutenant Governor	Steven Point
Preceded by	Gordon Campbell
MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey
Incumbent
Assumed office May 30, 2011
Preceded by	Gordon Campbell
MLA for Port Moody-Westwood (Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain)
In office 1996–2005
Preceded by	Barbara Copping
Succeeded by	Iain Black
Deputy Premier of British Columbia
In office June 5, 2001 – September 20, 2004
Premier	Gordon Campbell
Preceded by	Joy MacPhail
Succeeded by	Shirley Bond
Minister of Children and Family Development
In office January 26, 2004 – September 20, 2004
Premier	Gordon Campbell
Preceded by	Gordon Hogg
Succeeded by	Stan Hagen
Minister of Education
In office June 5, 2001 – January 26, 2004
Premier	Gordon Campbell
Preceded by	Joy MacPhail
Succeeded by	Tom Christensen
Personal details
Born	(1965-10-29) October 29, 1965 (age 46) Burnaby, British Columbia
Political party	B.C. Liberal
Religion	Anglican [2]

Christina Joan "Christy" Clark, MLA (born October 29, 1965) is a Canadian politician who currently serves as the 35th Premier of British Columbia, Canada. Clark was sworn in as premier on March 14, 2011, after she won the leadership of the British Columbia Liberal Party in the 2011 leadership election on February 26, 2011. She is the second, and longest serving, woman to serve as premier of British Columbia, after Rita Johnston in 1991.

Clark served as a Member of the Legislature from 1996 to 2005, serving as Deputy Premier from 2001 to 2005 during the first term of Gordon Campbell's government. She left politics in 2005, and became the host of an afternoon radio talk show^[1] At the time of her leadership victory, Clark was not a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. She re-entered the legislature after winning a by-election on May 11, 2011, in Vancouver-Point Grey, the seat left vacant by Campbell.^[2]

Background[link]

Clark was born in Burnaby, British Columbia on October 29, 1965. Her father, Jim, was a teacher and a three-time candidate for the Legislative Assembly and her mother, Mavis, was a family counsellor. Clark attended Simon Fraser University (SFU), the Sorbonne in France and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She studied Political Science and Religious Studies but did not graduate.^[3][4]

In 2001, Clark gave birth to her first child, Hamish Marissen-Clark, with then husband Mark Marissen. Clark was the second woman in Canadian history to give birth to a child while serving as a cabinet minister, after Pauline Marois, a Quebec provincial minister, in 1985.^[5]

Politics[link]

Opposition[link]

Clark was first elected to the legislature in the 1996 election, representing the riding of Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain. During the next five years, she served as the Official Opposition critic for the environment, children and families and for the public service. She also served as the campaign co-chair for the BC Liberals during the 2001 election, in which the party won 77 of 79 seats in the legislature.

Government[link]

Following the BC Liberal Party's election victory in 2001, Premier Gordon Campbell appointed Clark Minister of Education and Deputy Premier. She brought in a number of changes^[which?] that were claimed to increase accountability, strengthen parental power in the decision-making process, and provide parents greater choice and flexibility in the school system.^{[citation needed]} These changes were unpopular amongst teachers, school board members, opposition politicians, and union officials who argued that the decision not to fund the pay increases agreed to by the outgoing New Democratic Party government resulted in funding gaps.The changes made were challenged by the BC teacher's federation, and were later found to be unconstitutional. ^[6]

As Education Minister, Clark sought to increase the independence of the BC College of Teachers against heavy opposition from the British Columbia Teachers' Federation.^[7][8]

In 2002 the BC Liberals and Education Minister Christie Clark introduced Bills 27 & 28 forcing teachers back to work and banning collective bargaining. In 2011 the BC Supreme Court found Minister Clark’s decision to do so unconstitutional and in fact illegal.BC Supreme Court Decision

Clark was deputy premier at the time of the privatization of BC Rail and resulting scandal.^[9] Clark was also the Co-Chair of the 2001 Liberal campaign, which included a platform that specifically promised not to sell BC Rail.^[10] In 2009, Michael Bolton, defence attorney in the Basi-Virk trial, alleged that Clark had participated in the scandal by providing government information to lobbyist Erik Bornmann. These allegations were never proven or tested in court.^[11] Her brother Bruce Clark was the subject of one of the warrants. Though confidential draft "Request for Proposal" documents relating to the bid process allegedly provided by Dave Basi were found in Bruce Clark's home no charges were laid against him. Dave Basi and Bob Virk, Liberal Party insiders were charged for accepting benefits from one of the bidders, however.^[12] Ms. Clark has rebuffed talk of her links to the scandal as "smear tactics". At the time of the raids and associated warrants, her then-husband Mark Marissen was visited at home by the RCMP, but like other elected officials she was excluded from any investigation.^[13] Her husband was also not under investigation, and was told that he might have been the "innocent recipient" of documents (resumes of people looking for federal political work) then in his possession.^[14]

In 2004, Clark was appointed Minister of Children and Family Development after Minister Gordon Hogg was forced to resign. On September 17, 2004, Clark quit provincial politics and did not seek re-election in the 2005 provincial election. She declared she wanted to spend more time with her three-year old son.^[5]

Campaign for mayor of Vancouver[link]

On August 31, 2005, Clark announced that she would seek the nomination of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) to run for Mayor in the Vancouver Civic Elections against local councillor Sam Sullivan.^[5] On September 24, 2005, she lost the NPA's mayoral nomination to Sullivan by 69 votes out of 2,100 cast. Sullivan was subsequently elected Mayor of Vancouver.^[15]

Radio show and columnist[link]

Clark hosted the The Christy Clark Show, airing weekdays on CKNW 980 AM in Vancouver from August 27, 2007 through to her decision to enter the BC Liberal leadership election in December 2010.

She served as a weekly columnist for the Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun newspapers during the 2005 provincial election and an election analyst for Global BC and CTV News Channel during the 2006 federal election.

Campaign for party leadership, 2010–2011[link]

On December 8, 2010, Clark officially announced her intent to seek the leadership of the BC Liberal Party. While Clark had long been touted as a potential successor to BC Premier Gordon Campbell, she often claimed she had no further interest in a political career.^[16][17][18]

One of her early campaign announcements promised to cancel the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) referendum scheduled for September 2011. She suggested a free vote in the House by MLAs, believing the HST referendum has little chance of success. “Let our MLAs do their jobs and let our MLAs vote down the HST. Do it by March 31 and get it over with and get on with life in B.C.,” Clark told a crowd of about 40 in Pitt Meadows.^[19]

Her campaign faced questions regarding her involvement in the sale of BC Rail due to her cabinet position and family connection to people "mentioned prominently in court documents, including search warrants", with opposition members stating that she "wants to shut down the public's questions about the scandal".^[11][20] It was in the wake of the controversial Basi-Virk guilty pleas that ended the trial proceedings that she declared her candidacy for the party leadership on her radio show. Clark had called for more questions to be answered about BC Rail, but since then has said that there is no need for a public inquiry, as have the other Liberal Party leadership contenders.^[21]

Premiership[link]

Clark's first task as Premier was to win a seat in the provincial legislature for herself. She ran in former Premier Gordon Campbell's riding of Vancouver-Point Grey and defeated NDP candidate David Eby by 595 votes.^[22] She was sworn into the legislature on May 30, 2011.^[23]

Since becoming the Premier, her popularity has been on the decline.^[24]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Christy Clark
• Official Biography, Office of the Premier

v t e Premiers of British Columbia McCreight · De Cosmos · Walkem · Elliott · Walkem · Beaven · Smithe · A.E.B. Davie · Robson · T.E. Davie · Turner · Semlin · Martin · Dunsmuir · Prior · McBride · Bowser · Brewster · Oliver · MacLean · Tolmie · Pattullo · Hart · Johnson · W.A.C. Bennett · Barrett · B. Bennett · Vander Zalm · Johnston · Harcourt · G. Clark · Miller · Dosanjh · Campbell · C. Clark

v t e   First Ministers of Canada Federal Prime Minister: Stephen Harper Provincial AB: Alison Redford • BC: Christy Clark • MB: Greg Selinger • NB: David Alward • NL: Kathy Dunderdale • NS: Darrell Dexter • ON: Dalton McGuinty • PE: Robert Ghiz • QC: Jean Charest • SK: Brad Wall Territorial NT: Bob McLeod • NU: Eva Aariak • YT: Darrell Pasloski