OTTAWA, September 27, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Few Canadians, and even far fewer foreigners comprehend the dictatorial power that can be exercised by a Canadian Prime Minister. Consequently, Canadian democracy has become a farce, with most elected MPs merely being go-fers, shameful yes-men or extremely frustrated genuine democrats. It isn’t a pleasant life for the good men and women in the House of Commons. W.T. Stanbury has written two instructive articles this month, in the Ottawa-based Hill Times, about the how and why of the dangerous concentration of power in the Prime Minister’s office.
Stanbury says “the PM is by far the most powerful person in Canada” and that “Corporate titans …are pikers when it comes to the amount of power they possess relative to that which can be exercised by the PM.” He expands on this by noting that a PM leading “a majority government is effectively an elected king for up to five years”. President Bush has nothing over King Jean when it comes to exercising power within their respective countries. Perhaps one of the greatest exercises of autocracy by a Canadian PM was when Pierre Trudeau, frustrated with delays by the provincial premiers, notes Stanbury, “was able to proceed unilaterally …to patriate, and amend the Constitution and to incorporate into it the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” Canadians have a foolish notion that the Constitution and Charter efforts were their desire and achievement. They were in fact propagandized and set-up almost entirely by one man with a political vision at odds with Canadian tradition and culture. How do they get away with this, ask some Canadians, and many Americans? Stanbury explains, “All the evidence suggests that Canadians have been bred to obey their political leaders or to make only symbolic protests to what is clearly a system of ‘top down’ politics. They have accepted the role of ‘subjects’ of a periodically-elected king. David Marley (2002) argues that: ‘The great majority of Canadians understand neither the degree of power in the hands of the Prime Minister (or the provincial premiers) nor the operation of their governmental and political system generally.” See: PM wields far more power that any king https://www.thehilltimes.ca/2002/september/16/stanbury/ and follow-up article https://www.thehilltimes.ca/2002/september/23/stanbury/