Prime Minister Power In Canada

John Locke a famous liberal thinker, argued that these powers of the state should be circulated among different executive positions, instead of concentrated in one institution as dispersion lessens the temptation to misuse power. (Dickerson, Flanagan, O’Neill, 2014). In Society, many moral individuals commit crimes like stealing, many times the cause of this crime is temptation caused by the opportunity available to an individual at the given time. Therefore, when an individual is given many opportunities, he often binds into the temptation to commit the crime. In Canada, many Canadian scholars argue that compared to other parliamentary democracies, the concentration of power in the office of prime minister is exceptional. Allowing the prime

First, the prime minister power comes from the media image. The image a prime minister has in the media is very influential as in Canada winning candidates on the government side are aware that their party leader’s media reputation in the election campaign explain in large measure why they themselves were successful. Therefore, if the leader is able to secure a majority mandate, the minister in the house of commons, is in the party leaders debt, and not the other way around (Savoie, 2009). Hence, this increases the power of the prime minister as the minister are more likely to be loyal and less likely to openly rebel against the prime minister. For example, A Gallup poll conducted in 1988 is very revealing on this point. It reported that only 31 percent of respondents could name a single Cabinet minister four years after the Mulroney government had come to power (Savoie, 2009). Today, the prime minister can easily become a television personality, which allows the prime minister to be the only substantial candidates in the election race. This also allows the party to be more depended on the prime minister. Hence, the prime minister has fewer chances to be changed or removed if he misses his power because the party is depended on him to gain the votes in an election. Secondly, the prime minister has the ability to control the media information. The prime minister has the control over the degree of secrecy that prevails in Ottawa (Savoie, 2009). This enables the prime minister to shield of the media from getting information which would hurt his polls or would ruin his reputation as a prime minister. In Canada, the Canada Evidence Act of 1985 gives the prime minister of the cabinet the power to conceal the information, discussions and deliberation of ministers for 20 years, “without examination or hearing of the information