Prime Minister Harper Wields the Power- Parliament Becoming Irrelevant

Oct 20, 2007 04:30 AM
James Travers
OTTAWA

What most Canadians see happening here is a strong Stephen Harper taking advantage of a weak Stéphane Dion to impose the will of the minority on the majority. What the country's leading expert on the machinery of power sees is a Parliament acting as a palace court and a Prime Minister behaving much like an absolute monarch.

Before dismissing the observation as hyperbole or hysterics, consider the source. Donald Savoie's list of honours and publications is long and imposing. A celebrated international scholar and Order of Canada member, the Université de Moncton political economist is best known in Ottawa for one of three-dozen books. Governing from the Centre, an unflinching examination of the concentration of Canadian political power, made him a pariah in Jean Chrétien's capital and is a now a workshop manual for Conservatives who in opposition saw it as proof of the devil's undemocratic work.

So take Savoie seriously when he says, as he did in an interview this week, that the events of the past few days measure the rapid acceleration of a decades-old trend. In forcefully imposing a notably personal agenda on a Parliament with life-and-death powers over his administration, Harper is taking advantage of a specific political circumstance – disorganized Liberals fear a campaign – and the generalized truth that between elections modern prime ministers are perilously close to omnipotent.

"There's no question," Savoie says, "that the Prime Minister has all the power he could possibly want."

Harper is not the first to yank those levers, nor is he alone among recent prime ministers in recognizing that the most effective, and certainly most comfortable way to manage complex issues is by controlling them at the epicentre. In practice that means two offices that serve the Prime Minister rule while backbenchers, cabinet ministers and ultimately Parliament watch.

Harper's "fish or cut bait" ultimatum is one test of Parliament's growing irrelevance. Those no-name representatives of the people are essentially being told to stand-down from their elected task. Under threat of an imminent campaign, public policies tightly scripted by an inner circle that only occasionally intersects with ministers or the civil service are to be approved without amendment or improvement.

Another revealing illustration of concentrated power is the appointment of a panel to steer Canada's post-2009 Afghanistan course. Rather than trust an all-party committee reporting to Parliament, Harper is delegating that politically charged responsibility to a handpicked elite beholden only to him.

Led by former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley and including Derek Burney, a former chief of staff and ambassador to the U.S. under Brian Mulroney, and the head of Harper's transition team, the panellists are among what Savoie calls the new courtiers. In return for access, prestige and handsome per diems, they whisper advice the king can accept, dismiss or ignore depending on his wants, needs or whims.

http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/268725

Comments

[Rick in Delta]

My worst fears confirmed!
This explains recent events most eloquently.
Sounds like a new book to buy and look for on the best seller lists.
Must read Governing from the Centre by Donald Savoie.

[Ryan]

I have dumped the con servative party. Its a joke. They do not love this country. They hate this country. They are the neocons of Canada. Only Canada-haters would argue, with their usual
red herrings.