Multilateral Activities
Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie (APF)
The Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie (APF) was founded in 1967 as the International Assembly of French-Speaking Parliamentarians (AIPLF). It consists of 78 sections grouped into four regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe. In addition to promoting the French language and mutual understanding between French-speaking peoples, the APF is active in the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Interparliamentary cooperation is one of its primary spheres of activity.
The APF is recognized as the consultative assembly of the French-speaking community under the Charte de la Francophonie adopted at the Summit of Heads of State and Government of French-Speaking Countries held in Hanoi in November 1997. The Assembly arises from the parliaments and assemblies that exercise legislative authority in partially or entirely French-speaking states and communities. The APF structures are :
- the Plenary Assembly
- the Executive Bureau
- the Permanent Delegation to the Executive Bureau
- the APF General Secretariat
- the Standing Committees:
- the Political Committee;
- the Education, Communication, and Cultural Affairs Committee;
- the Parliamentary Affairs Committee;
- the Cooperation and Development Committee
- the Network of Women Parliamentarians
- the Regional Assemblies
The National Assembly has been a full-fledged member of the APF since 1975. The National Assembly previously held the presidency from 1993 to 1995, from 2001 to 2003 and from 2009 to 2011. It participates in each of the annual plenary sessions as well as in the work of the four standing committees and the Network of Women Parliamentarians. The National Assembly has also been a member of the Bureau since it joined the APF.
The Bureau is the APF's executive body. Between APF sessions, the Bureau ensures that the decisions made by the Plenary Assembly are implemented. The Bureau meets at least twice a year, once just prior to the APF Session, and a second time for an intersessional meeting.
The secretariat of the APF Americas Region has been headquartered at the National Assembly of Québec since spring 1992. The Québec Section of the APF attaches great importance to promoting the APF's existence, objectives and achievements among the French-speaking parliamentarians of the Americas. The Americas Region holds an annual regional meeting. The Conference of Presidents of the Americas Region meets twice a year-once in winter and again during the annual regional assembly.
As the sole annual activity where all APF parliamentarians meet in Plenary Assembly, the APF Session marks both the conclusion of the year's work by the four standing committees and the Network of Women Parliamentarians, and the launching of projects for the year ahead. The Session also provides an opportunity for the committees and the Network of Women Parliamentarians to present resolutions for adoption. All committees and the Network meet during the days before the proceedings of the Plenary Assembly begin.
Members of the Québec Section
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Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA)
Founded in 1911 as the Empire Parliamentary Association, the organization became the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in 1948. The National Assembly has been a full member since 1933. The CPA is composed of over 175 parliaments of unitary, federal and federated states from 52 of the 53 countries forming the Commonwealth. The emergence of parliamentary democracy has brought unequivocal support for the growth of the CPA's activities. Since the early 1990s, over 50 parliaments and legislative assemblies have joined or rejoined the ranks of the CPA.
The CPA's purpose is to bring together the parliamentarians of the Commonwealth so they can pursue the ideals of parliamentary democracy and its institutions. It pursues these objectives through seminars, symposia and parliamentary visits. It also holds an annual general meeting: the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. In September 2004, the National Assembly hosted the 50th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in collaboration with the federal and Ontario branches of the CPA.
The CPA is composed of a General Assembly, an Executive Committee and a permanent secretariat based in London. The Québec Branch held one of the 34 positions on the Executive Committee from September 2001 to September 2004. In 1990, women parliamentarians, representing 18% of the total membership of the CPA, formed the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) network. The National Assembly held the international vice-presidency of the network in 2007.
The Canadian Regional Conference of the CPA, composed of 14 branches and itself forming one of the nine geographic regions within the CPA, maintains relations between Canadian legislative assemblies. Activities that take place within the Canadian Region include the Regional Conference, the Regional Seminar, the Regional Council and the Conference of Presiding Officers. In July 2005, the Canadian Regional Council set up the Canadian section of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians network, which the National Assembly chaired from 2006 to 2008.
Members of the Québec Section
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Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas (COPA)
COPA was officially launched in September 1997, when the National Assembly took the initiative in bringing together the 300 or so parliamentary congresses and assemblies of the unitary, federal and federated states, regional parliaments and interparliamentary organizations of the Americas. The 400 parliamentarians from 28 countries meeting in Québec City at that time agreed on the need to create an independent, representative and pluralistic forum where they could share their views and reflect on the means of action available to them in the face of new continental realities.
COPA fosters the enrichment of interparliamentary dialogue through the creation of a network of the parliamentary assemblies of the Americas and the adoption of measures to ensure continued peace characterized by adherence to the principles underlying representative and participative democracy, as well as social justice, the protection of human rights and gender equity.
Since that first conference in Québec City, ten general assemblies have been held in Puerto Rico (July 2000), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (November 2001), Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico (November 2002), Caracas, Venezuela (November 2003), Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil (May 2005), Quito, Ecuador (May 2006), Mexico City and Toluca, Mexico (September 2008), Salta, Argentina (September 2009) and Mar del Plata, Argentina (November 2010). In addition, an extraordinary general assembly was held in Querétaro, Mexico, as part of the bicentennial independence celebrations of a number of Latin American countries in July 2010.
COPA has six standing committees which provide a forum for parliamentarians to examine specific matters and define common positions:
- Committee on Democracy and Peace
- Committee on Economy, Trade, Competitiveness, Labour and Trading Blocs
- Committee on Education, Culture, Science and Technology
- Committee on Health and Social Protection
- Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development
- Committee on Human Rights, Aboriginal Peoples and Citizen Security
In addition, the Network of Women Parliamentarians of the Americas, created in 1999, fosters dialogue on issues related to the advancement of women, gender equity, peace and human development, as well as the involvement of women in the decision-making processes of our societies.
The Network has held annual meetings in conjunction with the COPA General Assembly since its first meeting in Puerto Rico in July 2000.
The National Assembly of Québec held the COPA presidency from 1997 to 1999 and has also held it since 2010, for a term that will end in 2012. It is represented on COPA's Executive Committee and on the Network Executive Committee through the following positions: Chair of the Committee on Democracy and Peace, representative of the Québec Secretariat of COPA, representative of the founding Assembly and host of the Network Secretariat. In addition, it holds the position of rapporteur on the Committee on Education, Culture, Science and Technology.
The National Assembly hosts one of COPA's three secretariats and is also responsible for the Secretariat of the Network of Women Parliamentarians of the Americas.
Members of the Québec Section
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National Assembly Delegation for relations with the United States (DANREU)
The National Assembly Delegation for Relations with the United States (DANREU) is responsible for maintaining the National Assembly's interparliamentary relations with the US Congress and state parliamentary assemblies. The National Assembly is an international associate member of the two leading American interparliamentary organizations, the Council of State Governments (CSG) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The National Assembly is also an international member of the Great Lakes Legislative Caucus and the Legislative Agriculture Chairs Summit, which come under the CSG and the NCSL.
Council of State Governments (CSG)
This organization brings together the legislatures of the 50 American states and the American territories, as well as those of Québec and Ontario as affiliated international members since 1995 and 1999, respectively. It promotes intergovernmental cooperation through the examination of common problems, information sharing and the development of joint programs.
The CSG is divided into four geographic regions. The Eastern Regional Conference (ERC) includes parliamentarians from the ten states of the US Northeast, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Québec. The National Assembly officially joined this interparliamentary organization in March 1990, when it became the first affiliated international member of the ERC.
The National Assembly is a member of the ERC Executive Committee. It holds the vice-chairship of the Energy and Environment Committee and the Northeast States/Eastern Canadian Provinces Committee.
In 1995, the National Assembly became an affiliate international member of the Council of State Governments. Among the many issues discussed by the CSG, the National Assembly takes a particular interest in cross-border issues (trade between Québec and the northeastern American states, public security, etc.) and the energy and environmental sectors. The National Assembly is a member of the Executive Committee and the International Affairs Committee of the CSG.
In 1995, the National Assembly hosted the annual meeting of the ERC, and in 1999, it welcomed the CSG for the organization's first-ever Annual Meeting and Leadership Forum outside the United States. In both cases, these were the largest annual meetings in the history of the organization. In 2007, the National Assembly held the position of President of the ERC and it hosted the ERC Annual Assembly from August 12 to 15, 2007, under the theme Regional Challenges, Innovative Opportunities: Sharing State-Province Expertise. From the point of view of participation, this activity was a major success since it brought together more than 800 delegates. Among its highlights may be mentioned the passage of a resolution asking the United States Congress to delay the implementation of the measures envisaged in the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) and another calling for enhanced regional collaboration in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases.
During the CSG Annual Meeting held in La Quinta, California from November 12 to November 15, 2009, the National Assembly sponsored a resolution asking the American political authorities to take into consideration the pernicious effects of the application of certain aspects of the Buy America Recovery Act on economic recovery in Canada and the United States. The Act could prevent American public bodies from buying, within the framework of their recovery plan, certain products made in Québec or Canada. A similar resolution was adopted by the ERC at the meeting of its Executive Committee in New York on December 4 and 5, 2009.
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
On April 9, 2000, the National Assembly became an affiliated international member of the NCSL. Created in 1975, the NCSL is a non-partisan organization serving parliamentarians and public servants in the American states and territories. It organizes symposia, working groups and committees, and an annual meeting. The organization is considered to be an important voice for the states in dealing with US federal agencies, the White House and the United States Congress.
The National Assembly is the only non-US legislative assembly on the NCSL Executive Committee, where it participates in NCSL deliberations as an affiliated international member. As a member of the Executive Committee, the Assembly is also represented on the Strategic Planning Subcommittee. It is a member of the Agriculture and Energy Committee, as well as of the Labor and Economic Development Committee. It attends annual meetings, meetings of the Network of Women Parliamentarians and "Leader to Leader" gatherings in order to strengthen its network of contacts among US lawmakers. It also participates in the Energy Supply Task Force and the International Relations Task Force.
The National Assembly hosted the Executive Committee of the NCSL in Québec City from September 29 to October 2, 2011, as it did in May 2003.
Members of the Québec Delegation
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