Canada's Bizarre Democracy: My Closing Argument

In earlier posts, I discussed how the Prime Minister and Supreme Court Justices are chosen in Canada. In this post, I will briefly discuss how Senators, the Governor General, and Cabinet Ministers are chosen.

I can be brief because the answer is simple: they are all chosen by the Prime Minister. No confirmation required.

In terms of the Governor General, in theory Canada's Head of State, it is not important who is actually chosen. Although she wields enormous theoretical power, in actual fact the Governor General does whatever she is told to do by the Prime Minister. Thus in our latest Canadian melodrama, the Governor General saved the Prime Minister's skin, by suspending Parliament when he her asked to do so. Although some experts felt that she should not have obeyed, she did so anyway, and like good soldiers, none of the rest of us complained too loudly.

Senators fall into about the same boat. They have theoretical importance, but in reality can do little other than delay or obstruct the elected members of Parliament. They are all appointed by the Prime Minister ( do you detect a common theme developing here) - no consultation or confirmation required of course. Again we can look to recent events as illustrative of how this works. The Prime Minister got the Governor General to suspend Parliament, and then during this period of suspension appointed 18 friendlies to the Senate. What makes this especially odd is that the Prime Minister is opposed to the way Senators are appointed and thinks they should be elected. Oh well.

Do you know how Cabinet Ministers are chosen in Canada? Guess. That's right; the Prime Minister appoints, removes and "shuffles" them around at will. They do have real power but of course must do what the Prime Minister wants, or they are out the door.

Now, I know that what I have written in the last three posts is not new stuff. It is an oversimplified description of British parliamentary democracy. It is the way the system works. It is interesting however to compare this system with what we have watched transpire in the U.S. over the past year or so. The US was crazy with democracy. The primary contests lasted for months, involved numerous debates, interviews, town houses, and millions of Americans voters ultimately had their says. And that was just the beginning. The election was yet to come, with more debates, interviews, and speeches. Then the millions of voters again had their say, choosing their new President elect. And what went on north of the border? A new Parliament was elected, while Canadians snoozed. We had an incredibly low turnout at the polls. Soon after that, the Liberal party, which is now part of the opposition but will govern again (and maybe soon), chose their new leader who will be (no doubt about it) a future Canadian Prime Minister. How was he chosen? Well no one other than he ran, and he was chosen by the "national executive" of the Liberal party. Who is on this "executive", how are they chosen, and how long do they serve? Sorry, I don't have a clue.

Yes, I am experiencing democracy envy. But I am hopeful over time it will pass, and I will some day again think that we in Canada have a nice democracy, one which matches our personality.