An opposition day is a day in a legislature using the Westminster System in which an opposition party sets the agenda. Most days the parliamentary agenda is set by the government; opposition days allow the smaller parties to choose the subject for debate. The number of days varies between parliaments. In the United Kingdom there are twenty opposition days per parliamentary session, and in Canada there are twenty-two. The days are divided among opposition parties with the Official Opposition allotted the most; In the UK, the Official Opposition party is given 17 opposition days, and the second biggest opposition party given 3 days. Canadian opposition parties are allocated days, which are also called "allotted" or "supply" days, in proportion to their membership in the House. There are no opposition days in Australian jurisdictions.
Originally, opposition days were associated with debates over supply and held prior to the estimates and the budget and were created so that opposition parties could advance ideas for what should and should not be funded. In modern politics, opposition days are most often used to bring up issues that the government would rather ignore.
On 29 April 2009, the British Government was defeated in an opposition day vote on the subject of settlement rights for Veterans of the Gurkhas. This is the first time since January 1978 that the government has lost an opposition day vote.
Famous quotes containing the words opposition and/or day:
“It is useless to check the vain dunce who has caught the mania of scribbling, whether prose or poetry, canzonets or criticisms,—let such a one go on till the disease exhausts itself. Opposition like water, thrown on burning oil, but increases the evil, because a person of weak judgment will seldom listen to reason, but become obstinate under reproof.”
—Sarah Josepha Buell Hale 1788–1879, U.S. novelist, poet and women’s magazine editor. American Ladies Magazine, pp. 36-40 (December 1828)
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 6:9-13.