Canadian Parliament - Prime Minister's Too Powerful?

PM Harper

PM Diefenbaker

PM Trudeau

 

Canadian Parliament
Rather than becoming more like a system

of presidential executive authority,

this situation has left Canadian PM's

 in a position more akin to

historical monarchs.

The evolution of Westminster democracy

in Canada is very much a story about the

struggle to wrestle power away from the

Crown and shift it to Parliament, and

specifically the House of Commons, our

primary democratic legislators and check on

unfettered prime ministerial power. The

ability of PM's to retain and

use these Crown powers, alongside other

powers over MPs and the House of

Commons, is resulting in a situation

where PM's have the power to

make decisions, partisan and otherwise,

that limit or negate Parliament’s role

as a guardian for accountability in our

democratic system.

For more than a decade, huge

controversies have swirled around

arbitrary decisions by the PM's

 about the operations of

Parliament, and by premiers about

provincial legislatures. The decisions

have almost always been aimed at

unfairly helping the ruling party,

advancing the PM's or

premier’s agenda in the face of strong

opposition, or escaping accountability.