The 41st Canadian Parliament was in session from June 2, 2011 to August 2, 2015, with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 2011 federal election held on May 2, 2011.

These were the enabling legislation for the 2011 Canadian federal budget,[7] the Canada Post back-to-work legislation titled Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act (Bill C-6),[8][9] and the Fair and Efficient Criminal Trials Act (Bill C-2) authorizing federal judges to hear all pretrial motions at once during mega-trials.

Among the measures include replacing the pardon system with 'record suspensions', mandatory minimum sentences and/or penalties for certain drug and sexual offences, increasing prison sentences for marijuana offences, making it illegal to make sexually explicit information available to a child, reducing the ability of judges to sentence certain offenders to house arrest, allowing immigration officers to deny work permits to foreigners who are at risk of being sexually exploited, and enabling Canadians to sue state sponsors of terrorism for losses due to an act of terrorism.

illegal except when in the public interest, makes it illegal to remove rights management information (e.g. digital watermarks), extends moral rights for performers, makes legal the practise of copying for the purpose of backup, format shifting (CD to mp3), time shifting (recording to watch later), and expands fair dealing to include use in education, parody, and satire.

[17] However, the proposed law was criticized as "irredeemably flawed"[18] due to a contradiction between consumer rights and digital locks, American interference, a requirement for students to destroy copyrighted digital content after a course ends, and makes notice and notice mandatory for all ISPs, including disclosing the identity and activity of customers suspected of copyright infringement.

[22] A federal trial court decided that for the bill to be legal the government required the consent of the affected farmers, via a vote or plebiscite, as provided for in the 1998 Canadian Wheat Board Act, although that case is in appeal as of December 2011[update].

Despite the ruling of the judicial branch, Governor General David Johnston gave royal assent to the bill on the same day.

[27] The bill was introduced on October 25 and reviewed by the 'House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security' throughout November, chaired by Crowfoot MP Kevin Sorenson.

The Minister of Public Safety also introduced the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act (Bill C-30)[29] which proposed to amend the Criminal Code to grant law enforcement agencies new powers, such as online surveillance or warrantless wiretapping, to combat criminal activity on the internet.

The legislation proposes to create a "high risk" designation for people found guilty of a crime but not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder and enshrines in law that the safety of the public is paramount in deciding whether and how such a person can re-enter society.

[38] The omnibus bill would also repeal the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act and the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act, eliminates the National Council of Welfare, and the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, the regulatory agency Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, the Public Appointments Commission, the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, and the Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal, as well as eliminates the office of the inspector general at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and certain reviews by Auditor General.

[39] It creates a new department called Shared Services Canada and replaces the Employment Insurance Board of Referees with the Social Security Tribunal.

[42] Among the financial measures in the bill were the elimination of the Overseas Employment Tax Credit and corporate tax credits for mining exploration and development; moving the Atlantic Investment Tax Credit away from oil, gas, and mining towards electricity generation; making provisions for Pooled Registered Pension Plans; various amendments to Registered Disability Savings Plans, Retirement Compensation Arrangements, Employees Profit Sharing Plans, and thin capitalisation rules; reducing the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Credit Program; adding a requirement that employers report as part of an employee's income any contributions to a group sickness or accident insurance plan; increasing the salaries of federal judges and making the income of the Governor General subject to income taxes.

[67] The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which makes purchasing sexual services and communicating in public places or online for the purpose of selling sexual services criminal offenses, was adopted in response to a Supreme Court decision that found the existing laws against prostitution in Canada were unconstitutional.

The Minister of Health's Respect for Communities Act requires extensive consultation and letters of approvals to allow supervised injection site like Insite.

The Minister of Transport introduced the Safeguarding Canada's Seas and Skies Act implemented the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, extends civil and criminal immunity to oil spill response operations, and adds new reporting requirements to oil handling facilities.

Michelle Rempel, Pierre Poilievre, Greg Rickford, Candice Bergen and Rob Moore were promoted from Parliamentary Secretaries to Ministers of State.

[85] On January 6, 2012, Harper appointed seven new Senators, all Conservative Party members: Alberta Senator-in-waiting Betty Unger, former police chief in the city of Ottawa Vernon White, former MP Norman Doyle, the 2011 Conservative Party nominee in Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot Jean-Guy Dagenais, as well as JoAnne Buth, Ghislain Maltais, and Asha Seth.

They included the first Vietnamese-Canadian, Thanh Hai Ngo, and the first Filipino-Canadian, Tobias C. Enverga, to be appointed as senators, as well as Diane Bellemare of Montreal, Tom McInnis of Halifax, and Paul McIntyre.

[88] In early 2013, Harper appointed a final batch, including Denise Batters, David Wells of St. John's, Victor Oh of Mississauga, Lynn Beyak of Dryden, Ontario,[89] plus Alberta Senators-in-waiting Doug Black and Scott Tannas.

In addition to Duffy, Wallin, Brazeau and Harb, the audit recommended criminal investigations be conducted into the expense claims of 9 other senators who had served during the 41st Parliament.