POLITICAL SCIENCE 6: Book Review on Canadian Political Perspective

This essay provides a detailed review of Ian Brodle's book, focusing on the Canadian political landscape and the balance of power within the government. The essay begins with an introduction to the book's central themes, including criticisms of the Prime Minister's power and the state of the Canadian cabinet and parliament. It references Donald J. Savoie's article on the rise of court government in Canada, highlighting the concentration of power and the influence of various factors on decision-making. Brodle's arguments, such as the assertion that the Prime Minister is a 'dictator' and the cabinet and parliament are ineffective, are thoroughly examined. The essay also explores the relationship between the Prime Minister, political parties, and the potential for overreach of power, concluding that the concentration of power in the hands of the Prime Minister is detrimental to democracy. The essay emphasizes the need for reforms to ensure a more balanced and responsible government.

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political Science
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Introduction
The purpose of the following paper is to highlight upon the book written by Ian Brodle on
the perspective of the Canadian politics. The complications in the political scenario of Canada
will be discovered and the points made by the author will be covered. This book is one of the
most useful documents to bring out the changes in the politics of Canada. The author has brought
out several crucial factors within the politics of Canada and he has evidently discussed the strong
and weak points in this scenario. Ian Brodle has been a very successful professor of Political
Science and he has also worked as the Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen
Harper. Many reforms have taken place in the Canadian politics in the last few years and the
main purpose of these reforms have always been to look after the issues of the national
development. In this paper, the main arguments made by the author will be brought out properly
indeed.
Review of the Book
Before beginning the review of this book, the important factors should be brought out
regarding the article of Donald J. Savoie named the Rise of Court Government in Canada
(Savoie, 1999). In this article, several crucial issues could be found as these are quite crucial for
the understanding of the changes in the Canadian political system over the years. In this article ,
many opposing things have been written down as the challenge against the long running
conventions or traditions about the working procedure of the Federal Government system of
Canada. According to the author of this article, it has been said that the main source of power in
Canada remained in the hands of the Prime Minister and some selected persons by him (Savoie,
1999). These people used to work with the cabinet members of the Canadian parliament. In this

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article, the main forces that have aggravated the rise of the court government in Canada have
been discussed properly.
New policy instruments have been found along with several administrative tools. These
tools are quite important to be noted as the potential decision makers in the system. In the words
of the author, the decision-making process in the Canadian Government lies in the hands of the
different policy concerns, factors of national unity organizations, potential role of the lobbyists
and social media to influence the decision making (Savoie, 1999). The author has set forth the
fact that role of social media is immense in the globalization of national policies to be
implemented by the Government.
This is why it one of the most impressive factors to be discussed how national unity can
be gained by the role of the government. The new policies will have to be implemented and old
policies will have to be reshaped for better results for the people of the country. These changes
are very important from several sections. If the Canadian government undertakes these changes,
it will provide better services to the people of the country (Savoie, 1999). Now, the author has
put some evident issues that can point at the current crisis for the Canadian Government. These
crises and other factors regarding unsuccessful policy implementations have been put up by the
Ian Brodle in his book At the Centre of Government (Brodie, 2018).
In this book, the author has evidently made the remark in the book as “Canada’s Prime
Minister is a dictator”. He has gone on to criticize the Government in a very rude manner much
like Donal J. Savoie. This is evident as he has very boldly said that the cabinet of Canada is dead.
He has also asserted his opinion that Parliament is also dead besides cabinet. The cabinet of the
country has turned into the focus group of the Canadian Prime minister. According to the author

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of the book, the role of parliament of Canada should never be taken seriously as it does not have
a very serious place in the country. He has very clearly brought all the discrepancies of the
Canadian Government. This book by Ian Brodle has dealt with two bodies of literature on the
political environment of Canada. He has focused on bringing to light the needlessness of some
dysfunctional and outdated institutions. Here he has brought out the facts that reforms are very
much needed for the proper reshuffling of the Canadian Government and giving common people
all their facilities and amenities (Savoie, 1999). He has criticized all the existing political systems
of the Canadian Government and asked for reforms. In his words, the existing political systems
will indeed very much valuable to understand that dictatorship of Canadian prime minister
should be put to an end (Brodie, 2018). In fact, this point can be supported because in this 21st
century and democratic environment, the concept of dictatorship cannot be supported at all. He
has spoken in favor of a responsible government that will take care of its citizens quite evidently.
Brodle has argued over the fact supporting the views of Savoie that when power is
centralized in the hands of the Prime Minister, it reduces the importance of parliament, cabinet or
such constitutional institutions. This book has also highlighted the issues that the union or
cabinet ministers do not have any power in their hands (Savoie, 1999). They are just treated as
the nothing and Prime Minister is free to make and remake interesting changes within the
cabinet. This is why the supreme powers of the Canadian Prime Minister have been criticized
time and again. The task of assigning seats to ministers in the cabinet lies in the hands of the
Prime Minster only.
Thus he is recognized as the supremely powerful person within the country. This can
surely turn out to be one of the most dangerous factors when the country faces different
problems. In this book Ian Brodle has made some definitive and strong points that has made a

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very intimate relationship between the formal and informal checks (Brodie, 2018). The
connection between the Prime Minister’s powers and the sources of power following the role of
political parties has been directed properly as well. Therefore, this book can be viewed as one of
the strongest documents to criticize on the supreme powers of the Canadian prime minister.
He has argued over the fact that the Fathers of the Canadian Federation had been
significantly influenced by the different political parties. This is why it has been a matter of fact
that different political parties have been deprived of their rights in the current scenario. As per
the opinions of the political experts, the role of the political parties is indeed huge in structuring
the Federal Government. In this case, Brodle has brought out the fact that the Prime Minister sits
at the top of this structure and he is free to inflict any decision on the common people and
political parties (Brodie, 2018).
Brodle has discussed over the connection between the government and structure of the
political parties. He has put focus on the fact that the health of the government will surely depend
on the health of the political parties. Thus, the structure of the political parties will have lot of
things to say in this decision making. When the prime minister is the leader of the party, he ought
to possess great power (Brodie, 2018). It is of no doubt that the Prime Minister has supreme
powers at his disposal and this book has gone on to find out that it will hamper the essence of
democracy altogether. So, it might pose a threat to the other opposition political parties in great
ways indeed.
Brodle has highlighted his views on the issue that over ambitious prime ministers can do
almost impossible things by exerting his supreme power. This might or might not be helpful for
the growth of the party and nation (Brodie, 2018). If the legislative activities do not promote time

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for the agendas of opposition parties, it might be fatal for the political parties and well being of
the government. In this scenario, Brodle has used the term “executive-dominated legislatures”.
Brodle has also argued over the death of the government legislation because of lack of time in
the parliament. Thus this book has served as a very crucial document to establish the fact that
clash between the government, opposition parties and powers of prime minister are intertwined
but too much exertion of power by prime minister, will ruin the tru meaning of democracy.
Conclusion
On a concluding note, it can be said that Prime minister of Canada will exert his power
on the common people, opposition parties and even on his own cabinet to show that he can do
whatever he wants and whenever he wants. As Ian Brodle has pointed out, this is an unhealthy
practice of democracy from several viewpoints. This is why the political parties should take this
thing seriously and restrain the prime minister from applying his own thoughts into action. At
times, this could turn out to be very much problematic for the democracy of the country.
Therefore, this book should be considered as a very crucial factor for the looking at these issues
seriously.

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Reference List
Brodie, I. (2018). At the Centre of Government: The Prime Minister and the limits on political
power. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP.
Savoie, D. J. (1999). The rise of court government in Canada. Canadian Journal of Political
Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 32(4), 635-664.