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Sossin, Lorne --- "The Puzzle of Administrative Independence and Parliamentary Democracy in the Common Law World: A Canadian Perspective" [2010] ELECD 815; in Rose-Ackerman, Susan; Lindseth, L. Peter (eds), "Comparative Administrative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Comparative Administrative Law

Editor(s): Rose-Ackerman, Susan; Lindseth, L. Peter

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848446359

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: The Puzzle of Administrative Independence and Parliamentary Democracy in the Common Law World: A Canadian Perspective

Author(s): Sossin, Lorne

Number of pages: 20

Extract:

13 The puzzle of administrative independence and
parliamentary democracy in the common law
world: a Canadian perspective
Lorne Sossin*


Independent administrative bodies do not fit easily into the political, constitutional
or legal landscape of parliamentary democracy as it is practiced in many parts of the
common law world (excluding, of course, the United States). These bodies are gener-
ally established to fulfill policy mandates but without the usual forms of hierarchical
accountability to the government that prevailing conceptions of parliamentary democ-
racy normally demand. Independent administrative bodies are not courts and not gov-
ernment but have significant impact on the rights and interests of both individuals and
groups.1 This hybrid status creates what I term the `puzzle' of independence.
My focus here is on how this puzzle has manifested itself in the Canadian experience,
where independent administrative bodies have risen to national prominence due to several
high-profile and high-stakes crises. While these bodies have come to play an integral role
in the lives of most people most of the time (in Canada, for example, a landlord tenant
tribunal will typically hear far more disputes than all courts combined), we tend to pay
attention to independent administrative bodies only in the breach, when there are doubts
about their legitimacy, the scope of their reach or the effectiveness of their remedies.
Recent allegations in Canada of political interference by the federal government
with the Canadian Military Complaints Commission and the Canadian Nuclear Safety
Commission have brought these concerns, as ...