In recent weeks, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., the Member for Calgary Southwest and the Prime Minister of Canada, has tightened the control of his Cabinet to a degree so as to make the Government of Canada a one-man show, so to speak.
While watching an interesting roundtable on democratic reform on CPAC, a man named Andrew Coyne, a journalist for the National Post, suggested that perhaps we should "roll back" one of the democratic steps we took many years ago, in the interest of restoring democracy to our parliamentary institutions. He suggested that, perhaps, we should go back to the practice of only permitting caucus members to vote for the leader of a party. Now, before I am bombarded with posts accusing me of being opposed to democracy, permit me to elaborate.
During the first decades of Confederation in Canada, the leaders of parties were elected only by members of the caucus. This meant that party leaders, including prime ministers, would need to keep good relationships with their Ministers and their members, lest their caucuses decide that they were no longer an appropriate choice to lead them. The Prime Minister had just as much reason to fear his or her own Ministers, as they did to fear him or her — the dynamics of the relationship went both ways. Where the Prime Minister could dismiss someone from Cabinet, the Cabinet could force a Prime Minister into resignation.
However, in modern Canada, our party leaders are now elected at conventions. This means that these leaders are often seen as having more of a mandate than anyone else in the party — this also means that if a Minister or a member disagrees with the leader, then that Minister or member is guaranteed a one-ticket trip to independence — in the House of Commons. The caucus doesn't need to support the leader, so long as the leader was elected some months ago at a convention. This means that the leader can threaten his own members and Ministers, through whatever means are at his or her disposal, to ensure that his or her policies are the only ones reflected in Government.
I think that this "modern" practice is a mistake, and has made our Prime Minister less accountable to the people.
We should go back to caucus-only elections for party leaders, in my opinion.
While watching an interesting roundtable on democratic reform on CPAC, a man named Andrew Coyne, a journalist for the National Post, suggested that perhaps we should "roll back" one of the democratic steps we took many years ago, in the interest of restoring democracy to our parliamentary institutions. He suggested that, perhaps, we should go back to the practice of only permitting caucus members to vote for the leader of a party. Now, before I am bombarded with posts accusing me of being opposed to democracy, permit me to elaborate.
During the first decades of Confederation in Canada, the leaders of parties were elected only by members of the caucus. This meant that party leaders, including prime ministers, would need to keep good relationships with their Ministers and their members, lest their caucuses decide that they were no longer an appropriate choice to lead them. The Prime Minister had just as much reason to fear his or her own Ministers, as they did to fear him or her — the dynamics of the relationship went both ways. Where the Prime Minister could dismiss someone from Cabinet, the Cabinet could force a Prime Minister into resignation.
However, in modern Canada, our party leaders are now elected at conventions. This means that these leaders are often seen as having more of a mandate than anyone else in the party — this also means that if a Minister or a member disagrees with the leader, then that Minister or member is guaranteed a one-ticket trip to independence — in the House of Commons. The caucus doesn't need to support the leader, so long as the leader was elected some months ago at a convention. This means that the leader can threaten his own members and Ministers, through whatever means are at his or her disposal, to ensure that his or her policies are the only ones reflected in Government.
I think that this "modern" practice is a mistake, and has made our Prime Minister less accountable to the people.
We should go back to caucus-only elections for party leaders, in my opinion.
