Saturday, March 21, 2020

Canadian House of Commons Question Period

Canadian House of Commons Question Period In Canada, Question Period is a daily 45-minute period in the House of Commons. This period allows the members of Parliament to hold the prime minister, the Cabinet  and the House of Commons committee chairs accountable by asking questions about policies, decisions, and legislation. What Happens During Question Period? Opposition members of Parliament and occasionally other members of ​Parliament ask questions to get the prime minister, Cabinet  ministers and House of Commons committee chairs to defend and explain their policies and the actions of the departments and agencies for which they are responsible. The provincial and territorial legislative assemblies have a similar Question Period. Questions may be asked orally without notice or may be submitted in writing after notice.  Members who are not satisfied with the answer they receive to a question may pursue the matter at greater length during the Adjournment Proceedings, which occur every day except Friday. Any member can ask a question, but the time is set aside almost exclusively for the opposition parties to confront the government and hold it accountable for its actions. The opposition typically uses this time to highlight the perceived inadequacies of the government. The Speaker of the House of Commons oversees Question Period and may rule questions out of order. The Purpose of Question Period Question Period reflects the concerns of national political life and is closely followed by members of Parliament, the press and the public. Question Period is the most visible part of the Canadian House of Commons schedule  and gets extensive media coverage. Question Period is televised and  is that part of the parliamentary day where the government is held accountable for its administrative policies and the conduct of its Ministers, both individually and collectively.  Question Period is also a major tool for members of Parliament to use in their roles as constituency representatives and government watchdogs.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

The Pharaohs Double Crown of Egypt

The Pharaoh's Double Crown of Egypt Ancient Egyptian pharaohs are usually depicted wearing a crown or a head-cloth. The most important of these was the double crown, which symbolizes the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt and was worn by pharaohs starting with the First Dynasty around the year 3000 BCE. Its ancient Egyptian name is the pschent. The double crown was an amalgamation of the white crown (Ancient Egyptian name hedjet) of Upper Egypt and the red crown (Ancient Egyptian name deshret) of Lower Egypt. Another name for it is shmty, meaning the two powerful ones, or sekhemti. The crowns are seen only in artwork and no specimen of one has been preserved and discovered.  In addition to the  pharaohs, the gods Horus and Atum are depicted wearing the double crown. These are gods that are closely allied with the pharaohs. Symbols of the Double Crown The combination of the two crowns into one represented the rule of the pharaoh over his united kingdom. The red deshret  of Lower Egypt is the outer portion of the crown with cutouts around the ears. It has a curled projection in front that represents the proboscis of a honeybee, and a spire in the back  and an extension down the back of the neck. The name deshret  is also applied to the honeybee. The red color represents the fertile land of the Nile delta. It was believed to have been giving by Get to Horus, and the pharaohs were the successors of Horus. The white crown is the interior crown, which was more conical or bowling pin shaped, with cutouts for the ears. It may have been assimilated from the Nubian rulers before being worn by rulers of Upper Egypt. Animal representations were fastened to the front of the crowns, with a cobra in attack position for Lower Egyptian goddess Wadjet and a vulture head for the goddess Nekhbet of Upper Egypt. It isnt known what the crowns were made of, they could have been made of cloth, leather, reeds, or even metal.  Because no crowns have been found in burial tombs, even in those that were undisturbed, some historians speculate they were passed from pharaoh to Pharaoh. History of the Double Crown of Egypt Upper and Lower Egypt were united around the year 3150 BCE with some historians naming Menes as the first pharaoh and crediting him for inventing the pschent. But the double crown was first seen on a Horus of the pharaoh  Djet  of the First Dynasty, around 2980 BCE. The double crown is found in the Pyramid Texts. Nearly every pharaoh from 2700 through 750 BCE was depicted wearing the pschent in hieroglyphs preserved in tombs. The Rosetta Stone and the king list on the Palermo stone are other sources showing the double crown associated with pharaohs. Statues of Senusret II and Amenhotep  III are among many showing the double crown. The Ptolemy rulers wore the double crown when they were in Egypt but when they left the country they wore a diadem instead.