Request by the Canadian Parliament for observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly

Resolution 1125 (1997)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

See Doc. 7792, report of the Political Affairs Committee, rapporteurs: Mr Van der Linden and Mr Cem. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 28 May 1997.

Thesaurus

1. Canada was invited by the Committee of Ministers, in its Resolution (96) 9, to become an observer with the Council of Europe. This resolution entered into force on 29 May 1996, following the Assembly’s adoption of Opinion No. 196, stating that Canada met the requirements as set forth in Statutory Resolution (93) 26.

2. On 18 June 1996, the presidents of the two chambers of the Canadian Parliament, in a joint letter, requested observer status with the Assembly.

3. The Bureau of the Assembly, having considered a memorandum of the Political Affairs Committee, decided on 18 March 1997 that a positive reply should be proposed to the Assembly.

4. The Assembly, therefore, resolves:

4.1 to grant observer status to the Canadian Parliament;

4.2 to allocate six seats of Representatives and six seats of Substitutes to the observer delegation, which should be composed so as to ensure the equitable representation of the political parties or forces present in parliament.