As the post of Prime Minister is considered to be the most politically powerful in Canada, it is somewhat difficult to outline the two central powers due to the excessive amount of powers and responsibilities of the post. As Milan Ilnytsyi rightly notes, one of the most important powers of the Canadian Prime Minister is the institutional capacity. The institutional capacity to perform the diverse functions gives a lot of room for the Prime Minister’s performance. Mainly, the Prime Minister can decide on the operational capacities of the institutions in the country as well as the performance of functions in his cabinet. For instance, the history showed the examples of the Prime Minister’s decisions on making the Clerk of Party one of the most important posts in the Cabinet and transitioning him into the Deputy Minister. As a result, the Prime Minister received more direct information from the recently appointed post. The institutional power of the Canadian Prime Minister is largely reinforced with the electoral system in the country which rather centers the political powers in the hands of the Prime Minister. Some of the examples of the institutional power of the Canadian Prime Minister are the following: ‘he prime minister has extensive powers of appointment: ministers, deputy ministers in the departments of the federal civil service, supreme court justices, the Clerk of the Privy Council, etc.’ (Ilnytskyi, 2013)
Besides the power conveyed through the institutional capacity the Prime Minister has the power to control MPs in the country. The history exposed several cases where the Canadian Prime Ministers have been involved in the controversial cases of manipulating the opinion of the members of Parliament (e.g., Prime Minister’s response to MP Garth Turner comment on the David Emerson controversy).
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With the scope of powers designated to the Canadian Prime Minister, the independent functioning of the Canadian institutions remains questionable.
2. Even though the powers of the Canadian Prime Minister may seem to be excessive, there are certain areas for making the Prime Minister’s post more accountable to the Canadian People. One of the constrains that help monitoring the excessive powers if the federalism. The foundation for giving more power to the provinces rather than keeping the entire control on the national level is the Canadian Constitution. According to the Canadian Constitution, the post of the Canadian Prime Minister restricts the degree of the Prime Minister’s involvement on the provincial level. On the one hand, it results in the growing powers within his institutional powers which may result in the promotion of the Prime Ministerial agenda. On the other hand, such restrictions result in the specific amount of autonomy in the regions.
Another restriction for the Prime Minister’s growing power is the active participation of the media in the Canadian political life. In fact, the media creates a lot of substantial restrictions for the Prime Minister’s performance as they constantly monitor their accountability to the Canadian nation. The power of the media in the Canadian political landscape is reinforced with the desire of the government of Steven Harper to take control over the media and interfere with their agenda for the coverage. However, the independence of the media demonstrates the strength of one of the most important, yet unspoken pillars of Canadian democracy which is the freedom of speech.
Therefore, the extent of the Prime Ministerial powers does not comprise the threat to the Canadian democracy in so far as other independent pillars ensure the democratic functioning of the institutions in the country, independent one from another.
- Ilnytskyi, M. (2013). Is the extent of prime ministerial power a threat to Canadian democracy?
