Over 60 Commonwealth Parliamentarians from across the Canada Region have recommitted to increasing parliamentary strengthening at the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Canada Regional Conference, which has taken place in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island from 16 to 22 July 2022.

Delegates were welcomed to the CPA Canada Regional Conference by Hon. Colin LaVie, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and CPA Prince Edward Island Branch President. This was the first time that the Canadian Regional Conference had been held in person since July 2019.

The CPA Canada Regional Conference was attended by Commonwealth Parliamentarians from the federal, provincial and territorial Legislatures of the region as well as Parliamentary Clerks who attended workshop sessions on a wide range of topics including:

Climate change: creating resilient infrastructure; consultation with citizens: Quebec Citizens' Roundtable; Unparliamentary language and behaviour: managing expectations; Restoration projects at Legislatures.

The CPA Secretary-General, Stephen Twigg sent a video message to the Regional Conference to reiterate the CPA’s commitment to the CPA Canada Region as well as look forward to the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) due to be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia in August 2022. He said:

“It has been a very challenging time over the past two years for Parliamentarians and Legislators across the world, including throughout the Commonwealth. In a few weeks time, we will convene in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, our first CPC since 2019, and a real opportunity to come together and to address some of our shared challenges and learn from each other.”

Ahead of the CPA Canada Regional Conference, the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Canada Regional meetings took place. The CWP Canada Regional Chair, Hon. Lisa Thompson, MPP (Ontario) chaired the meetings which focused on actions to attract, prepare and support women into public office. The meetings provided Members with the opportunity to hear about activities and to emphasise the importance of promoting the CWP in Canada on a variety of platforms, including social media.

The CPA Canada Region comprises the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Legislatures in Canada and the CPA Branches are: Canada Federal; Alberta; British Columbia; Manitoba; New Brunswick; Newfoundland and Labrador; Northwest Territories; Nova Scotia; Nunavut; Ontario; Prince Edward Island; Québec; Saskatchewan; and Yukon.

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The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association connects, develops, promotes and supports Parliamentarians and their staff to identify benchmarks of good governance and the implementation of the enduring values of the Commonwealth. The CPA is an international community of around 180 Commonwealth Parliaments and Legislatures working together to deepen the Commonwealth’s commitment to the highest standards of democratic governance.

For media enquiries, please contact communications@cpahq.org.