Is the Canadian Prime Minister Too Powerful?

This essay examines the power of the Canadian Prime Minister within the Canadian parliamentary system. The author argues that the Prime Minister holds significant power, exceeding what some consider appropriate for a democratic system. The essay explores both the advantages and disadvantages of this concentrated power, including efficient decision-making versus potential corruption. Reforms are suggested to balance the power between the Prime Minister and other representatives, such as electing Senators rather than appointing them and limiting the Prime Minister's term. The essay concludes that while the Prime Minister's power offers efficiency, reforms are necessary to prevent potential abuses and ensure a more balanced distribution of power within the government.

Running Head: POLITICAL SCIENCE 1
POLITICAL SCIENCE

POLITICAL SCIENCE 2
Introduction
The main topic that has been chosen for carrying out this entire essay is "Is the Prime
Minister too powerful?" It has been observed that Canada has one of the most unique forms
of governments in the world and in the developed nations as a whole. As per the Constitution
Act 1867, Canada is mainly regarded as the Parliamentary Democracy given the fact that the
constitution tends to provide for the democratic election with regards to the representatives to
the parliament. However, the parliament in Canada is mainly made up of the House of
Commons, Crown as well as the Senate. I am for this statement that yes the Canadian Prime
Minister holds a lot of power.
This particular paper will however critically analyze whether it is a fact that the prime
minister holds a lot of power in this country. Moreover, in the body of this essay, there will
be some of the disadvantages and advantages with regards to the powerful prime minister will
be highlighted. The concluding remarks of the essay will indicate some of the reforms that
are needed for giving the representatives a lot more power relative to the premier will also be
looked into.
Body
Overview
It has been already stated in the introductory part of the essay that I believe that a huge
amount of power is held by the Canadian prime minister. It is quite strange as the office is not
enshrined in any type of constitutional document. From the personal point of view, it can be
argued that the entire political system can be regarded as an important amount of authority
that is held by some of the individuals that tend to assist in the specific society's governing

POLITICAL SCIENCE 3
(Smith, 2013). This particular supremacy in Canada is mainly divided into various political
institutions for making sure that the power can be handled in an accurate manner.
Furthermore, in the entire political system of Canada, the distinction in the roles of this type
of bodies and the amount of power of grant is determined by the Constitution. The entire
Canadian parliamentary system as a whole mainly highlights the extreme sum total of the
power in the hands of the Prime Minister.
The prime minister of Canada can be described as the individual that has a lot of power. The
entire spectrum of the power with regards to the prime minister has led some for claiming
that the government of Canada is an autocracy. The PM of Canada is quite strong and unique
as he possesses a lot of responsibility than any other governments in the parliament, which
tends to distinguish them as one of the most powerful prime ministers. On the contrary, the
autocratic status is coined by the Canadian prime minister because of his lot of power along
with the grants. However, it has been argued by some of the scholars that the prime minister
of Canada is quite similar to the character of the president in his possession of the power but
it has been observed that the prime minister mainly lacks in the checks and the
countermeasures that are quite prevalent in the entire system (Ley, 2010).
The prime minister of Canada has such huge powers that it tends to gain him capabilities that
are quite unique for the prime minister and which is why one of the reforms is to be set for
the proportional representation for the House of Commons. The power of the prime minister
could also be constrained by granting the House of Commons and proportional representation
which would help change the entire balance between the Parliament and Executive. On the
other hand, there are some of the people who argue that the Canadian prime minister is not so
much power as he is portrayed by the media. However, this argument holds no such values
and I argue back in this statement saying that the powers and the advantages enjoyed by the
Canadian prime minister evidently makes him powerful. The power of the prime minister is

POLITICAL SCIENCE 4
also reflected by indicating the fact that they can hold an extreme power in terms of directly
controlling the Supreme Court via the appointment of the judges along with that controlling
the parliament via the members of their party. The people of Canada tend to look after their
prime minister with regards to their decision during the time of crisis. For example, one of the
most prominent cases where the country faced the situation of taking one of the most vital
decisions either they are supporting or not supporting American Invasion to Iraq. It has been
already observed that the prime minister of Canada is quite powerful and everything depends
on him in terms of how he chooses to use his power and the success by which some of his
responsibilities are delegated (Samuels & Shugart, 2010).
Some of the disadvantages and advantages of powerful prime minister
One of the main advantages that are enjoyed by the powerful prime minister of Canada from
my personal point of view is the fact that government decisions can be made in an efficient
and fast manner. It can be argued that when the prime minister has the entire control over the
legislative arm with regards to the government, then bills of the government can be passed in
an effective manner which is brought on the house. Secondly, all the prime ministers of
Canada are also the parliament's member and they sit and votes in the House of Commons. In
other words, he is the leader of the largest party in parliament. Thirdly, another major
advantage that is enjoyed by the Canadian prime minister is that they are the Head of the
Executive Branch. Fourthly, it can be also argued that the prime minister of Canada also
enjoys the powers to appoint a broad assortment of the other officials with regards to the
Canadian Government. It consists of the following such as appointing the governor general,
judges, and etcetera.
One of the main disadvantages of the powerful prime minister is that their power may corrupt
a lot of things. For instance, the cronies may be appointed by the prime minister as the
Senators.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 5
The importance of reforms for giving the representatives more power
One of the main reforms must be ensuring that the Senators are mainly elected and not at all
appointed by the premier. It will mainly reduce any type of hold that the premier tends to
have on the leaders. The second reform can be limiting the prime minister's tenure in the
office (Marland, 2012).
Conclusion
The entire essay highlighted as well as argued that the prime minister of Canada holds a huge
amount of power in the country. This claim has been supported by numerous logical claims
and arguments. The entire Canadian parliamentary system as a whole mainly highlights the
extreme sum total of the power in the hands of the Prime Minister.
The prime minister of Canada can be described as the individual that has a lot of power. The
entire spectrum of the power with regards to the prime minister has led some for claiming
that the government of Canada is an autocracy. The PM of Canada is quite strong and unique
as he possesses a lot of responsibility than any other governments. However, there are a lot of
advantages and a few disadvantages of being a powerful prime minister that has been well-
reflected via this essay.

POLITICAL SCIENCE 6
References
Ley, D. (2010). Multiculturalism: a Canadian defence. In The Multiculturalism Backlash (pp.
200-216). Routledge.
Marland, A. (2012). Political photography, journalism, and framing in the digital age: The
management of visual media by the prime minister of Canada. The International
Journal of Press/Politics, 17(2), 214-233.
Samuels, D. J., & Shugart, M. S. (2010). Presidents, parties, and prime ministers: How the
separation of powers affects party organization and behavior. Cambridge University
Press.
Smith, D. E. (2013). The invisible crown: The first principle of Canadian government.
University of Toronto Press.