Hypothetical question about the rule of order in Canada.

[Semperfi_dani]

My mother and I were watching the news this week in regards to what the alleged terrorirsts were planning to do, one of which was to blow up the parliament.

On a related arc, i was watching an old episode of the West Wing in which the POTUS had to step down, and their was no VP at that time, so it went to some other position (the speaker of the senate? The head of the senate?)..and that their is in the US an acutal hierarchy of who would rule in the event of some massive action resulting in the death of the Pres and VPres (in fact, i think the 5th in line is the head of the dept of Agriculture or some other bizarre fact).

So than my question.

In the event that something horrible were to happen to parliament, and the leaders inside parliament including the PM, all MLA's including opposition leaders, who would rule?

Would it go to the Governor General? And if she were in the building when this happened...would it go to Her Majesty, The Queen of England? Or would it go to the leader of the Senate first, provided they were not killed as well?

 

[FiveParadox]

RE: Contingency Plan

In the event that the Prime Minister of Canada were assassinated, and the Ministry destroyed (and no obvious emergency successors survived from among Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition and the other opposition parties), then it would be the prerogative (and, in fact, the duty) of the Governor General of Canada to invite someone else to become the Prime Minister and form a Government at once. I would imagine that given these circumstances, it would likely be someone from outside the Parliament of Canada (unless the Senate membership remained in tact, in which case it would likely be from among members of the Upper Chamber).

In the event that Her Excellency was also killed, then yes, then it would be the prerogative of the Chief Justice of Canada to assume the role of the Queen's Administrator, which carries much of the same functions and powers of the Governor General; it would be the prerogative of Her Majesty the Queen of Canada, of course, to appoint a new Governor General at once, co-ordinating, of course, with the Government of Canada. However, in any case, once the crisis had been averted, the Governor General would likely need to dissolve the Parliament of Canada and renew the membership of the House of Commons as soon as possible.

Unlike the Order of Precedence in the United States of America, our own Order of Precedence in Canada is not written in priority of who assumes the prime ministership in the event of a disaster. Nobody would "assume" the role of prime minister automatically; the Governor General would need to consult with the appropriate persons and appoint someone most suited to govern during the crisis.

 

[dekhqonbacha]

Semperfi_dani
better don't hope for it. It seems it takes too much work to form new governement.