Welcome to June, when Parliament gets serious about passing bills into law. In 2011, the new government muscled six bills through the legislative process. The next year, Governor General David Johnston signed a dozen bills into law. Last year, as the summer barbecue circuit beckoned, the House of Commons and Senate sent 28 bills to the Governor General’s desk. He granted Royal Assent to 19 bills in a single day (June 19), and another nine on June 26. Kady O’Malley predicts the annual tradition will resume later this week. Canadian school kids deserve their own cartoon primer, screened widely each June, that would make sense of the legislative rush. For now, parliamentarians ought to warm up for voting season, when they stand again and again and again in a wholly predictable, but symbolically grand declaration of our democratic process.

Maclean’s is your home for the daily political theatre that is Question Period. If you’ve never watched, check out our primer. Today, QP runs from 2:15 p.m. until just past 3. We livestream and liveblog all the action.

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