by Andy Wu (University of British Columbia)
Introduction
Herman Bakvis suggested that “Canadian prime ministers enjoy powers to a degree that is unhealthy in a democratic society” back in 2001 after Jean Chrétien called an early election at a time he thought to be optimal, arguing that the counterweights to prime ministerial power within the cabinet and outside of the federal government are
…not always capable of being held accountable by popularly elected bodies, are insufficient and idiosyncratic, … (Bakvis, 60, 76)
Now, in 2016, after an election that partially focused on the highly disputed practices of the Harper Ministry, and also in the middle of a national investigation on electoral reforms carried out by House of Commons special committee, the political power structure in Canada has come under even more intense scrutiny. How did the parliamentary system that was designed to put the Prime Minister as “first amongst equals” that shares collective executive responsibility, ended up resulting in the Prime Minister having one of the most centralized federal-level powers in the world, more centralized than that of a lot of other heads of governments in presidential democracies?