Canadian Democratic Problem, Friendly Dictatorship

Canadian Democratic Problem
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Canadian Democratic Problem
For almost two decades now, there have been huge controversies surrounding the various decisions made by Prime Ministers in regard to the operations of the House of Commons in Canada. According to pundits and critics, the decisions have been on attempts of helping either the premier or ruling party advance their agendas in case the opposition appears to be too strong or escape accountability to their actions. Examples of such actions include the dissolution of the House of Commons in the years 2003, 2008, 2009; calling for earlier elections in 2000 and 2008 with the latter happening even after the prime minister promised to do away with this during the campaign period; and proroguing the House of Commons to avoid a vote of non-confidence in the Prime Minister. It is true this questions that various scholars, pundits, critics and the general public have questioned whether too much power is concentrated at the office of the Prime Ministers. Some have even asked where the prime ministers acquire these powers from. With the help of scholars and pundits, the Prime Ministers draw these might powers from the reserve powers which allows them to make arbitrary decisions. Exercising prerogative powers have resulted in an undermined democracy in Canada and it is becoming a norm. from the manner in which the recent prime ministers have exercised their prerogative powers, it can be said that too much power is concentrated in the office of the prime minister.
The Canadian parliamentary system of Canada is facing fundamental problems that are undermining its democracy. Too much power is concentrated in the office of the prime minister especially over the operations of the House of Commons. In the Canadian government system, the House of Commons is the parliamentary assembly of representatives who have been elected to represent the citizens in the government (Smith, 2007). In this regard, concentrating too much power in the office of the prime minister over the House of Commons in a democratic like Canada is a problem. Uncontrolled power in any type of a government may lead to abuse of power. Moreover, abuse of power diminishes democracy of a country. Based on some of the constitutional conventions, the prime minister is allowed to exercise the reserve powers. This paper focuses on the concentrated power in the office of the prime minister by examining some of the specific powers that allow prime ministers to overrule Parliaments, hindering the MPs from performing the duty. The core responsibility of the MPs is to ensure that the government is accountable to the citizens. The paper will conclude by explaining some of the reforms that should be undertaken to correct this problem.
The sweeping powers (reserve powers) have been and will continue to be the source of might powers that are only left to the governor general (Carter, 2015). In few occasions, prime ministers have exercised these powers to summon, prorogue and dissolve the House of Commons (Carter, 2015). This demonstrates that the prime minister have unconstrained power in deciding when the House should perform its duties as provided by the constitution. Therefore, accessing...