It is incongruous that Justin Trudeau’s inner circle has too few Westerners, while Andrew Scheer’s has too many. Perhaps they should swap staff for a few days.
All eyes will be on the Liberal leader’s cabinet shuffle at Rideau Hall on Wednesday afternoon. But, to many observers, the confederacy arraigned around the cabinet table is as inconsequential as the deliberations in the House of Commons. Both cabinet and Parliament have been relegated to the role of rubber-stamping decisions taken elsewhere. The prime minister has surrounded himself with advisors of like mind and experience who act like a political praetorian guard.
As Donald Savoie, the country’s most eminent public administration academic, noted in his recent book Democracy in Canada, political power is no longer located in cabinet or in Parliament, but is now held by the prime minister and his immediate coterie of unelected advisors. In Trudeau’s case, virtually the same team that helped get him elected in 2015 will be re-confirmed as his closest political confidantes. Given the national unity issues this minority government is already facing, the preponderance of Ontario voices in that circle should be a concern to all Canadians.
Savoie pointed out that neither the Senate nor cabinet provide regional voices or perspectives any more, with the latter having become little more than a “focus group” for the prime minister. He noted that two key decisions on deployment to Afghanistan – one by a Liberal government, one by a Conservative government – were made in the PMO, without input from the ministers of National Defence or Foreign Affairs.
The current prime minister promised to reverse the shift of governing from the centre when he took power but in Savoie’s opinion, “Trudeau fils has strengthened the centre of government rather than rolled it back.”
Power is run and retained by promoting the almost presidential brand of the prime minister. “Competing brands from ministers only dilute the prime minister’s brand and it is not tolerated,” Savoie said.
[…]
See Also:
(1) Canada’s support for UN resolution condemning Israel ‘occupation’ blasted as ‘Faustian bargain’
(2) Economic migrants flourish, others flail in Trudeau’s Canada
(5) No need for new rules to ensure timely youth trials, Supreme Court rules
