That is exactly what it is doing... working within the system. The system allows for considerable power and discretion to be centered in the PMO.
No it's not Harper isn't the system, Parliament is and the PMO is intended to support him in his role as Prime Minister within the Parliament, not as a separate executive attacking members of Parliament. We don't elect an executive branch we elect a House to which the PM is answerable and the same goes for the actions of the PMO.
No it's not. MP's almost invariably vote along the lines the PM and the party decide; they virtually never vote independently, and most are quite happy with that arrangement, most of the time. Changing parties is about the only thing an MP can do of his own accord.
It doesn't mean they have to and party control has grown over the years. Both my parents were active in politics when I was young, my mother with the Liberals and my father with the conservatives. One of my early memories was a neighbor and close family friend being elected as a Liberal MP in the first Pierre Trudeau government, he was one of the coolest guys I've ever met. My father also had election success with conservative MPs he campaigned for in later years. This foaming at the mouth thing that some people have with the Liberals is bizarre I think, the reason they've been so successful isn't that they somehow always cheated Canadian voters which seems to be the theme of some people, but because they represented the values of most Canadians more consistently and still may. There was far more respect for MPs back in those days both within and without the parties, they certainly weren't the "trained seals" they've become now.
The PMO is the nerve centre of the party in power. It's a political nerve centre.
No it's not, the party caucus is, the PMO is there to support the PM not replace Parliament. The PM is always answerable to Parliament and the PMO has
zero legislative power.
I have seen time and again in your comments that you have an idealistic and unrealistic notion of how our government works, usually influenced by your heavy Liberal partisanship. When Liberals do things, they're justified; when Conservatives do similar things, you howl in outrage.
Don't tell me what I am, I know my politics, more than anything I care about the health of our democratic system here and I'm going to be
very definite in my opposition to any group or individual that places themselves over that system which is basically us. I don't see the Liberals abusing the system and driving this country further from what it should be for the simple fact they aren't in power right now. And we were all told how the old abuses of power were going to end under the new government that went as far as naming itself that...and yet the old negative issues with entirely new dimensions have emerged.
I don't see the fortunes of Canada as rising as falling with any one party, they rise and fall with the quality of the people who are in office. And when people of the quality of Brent Rathgeber who put his job and reputation on the line are saying there's a serious problem still within our government then I listen.
It's odd you see no hypocrisy in condemning me for my
assumed biases when you seem quite motivated by yours.
Well, this is kind of ironic, because that is precisely what you are doing here. Justifying the PMO.
It's interesting to note that a Conservative MP walked from the party to sit as an independent--an Alberta Conservative, no less. And the reason--hyper-partisan zealots at the PMO. To me, that indicates a problem.
There's some really bizarre ideas of what the PMO is here, some people seem to believe it's a separate branch of government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Prime_Minister_(Canada)
One of the most important roles of the PMO is related to government appointments, which are made by the Queen-in-Council (or Governor-in-Council), but, as Canada is a constitutional monarchy, this is done on the normally binding advice of the prime minister. The PMO, thus, aids in finding suitable candidates for the prime minister to put forward to the monarch or viceroy for appointment to positions such as the governor general and lieutenant governors, senators, supreme court justices, chairpersons of ministerial boards, heads of Crown corporations, and more. The PMO also includes speech writers, strategists, and communications staffers, who shape the prime minister's and cabinet's message, as well as keeping the prime minister informed on events that take place in government and across the country, and acting as a link between the political party organization and the government.
It's role is supposed to be in aiding the PM in making appointments and communications, but under Harper it has mutated into the policy making center that used to lie within the party. So under Harper there is very little party control of the PMO let alone overall Parliamentary oversight.