Our democratic discontent and how we can fix it

While radical solutions are being debated, restoring Canada to its foundations may be the best course of action

Governor General Michaëlle Jean’s term ends in September.
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Governor General Michaëlle Jean’s term ends in September.

Many have lamented the current state of Canadian democracy. The recent debacle over detainee documents has brought into light the struggle between executive power and Parliamentary supremacy. Many changes to the Canadian structure have been proposed, but it is my firm belief that the best way to fix the problems in our democracy is merely to restore the system as it was originally intended.

In light of Queen Elizabeth’s present Canadian tour, we must remember that at its heart, the position of the Governor General is only a representative of our Head of State, the Queen. Canada is a Monarchy; a Constitutional one of course, but a Monarchy nonetheless. As the Sovereign’s representative, the Governor General has all of the powers and status of the Queen in her stead.

As our current Governor General, the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean’s term comes to a close, the media punditry has resorted to the classic guessing game of who will succeed her. While admittedly amusing, this next appointment should be more than a query about Captain Kirk. There are many qualified candidates to succeed her, perhaps none more so than the MP for Kingston (and therefore Queen’s University), the soon-to-retire Speaker of the House, the Honourable Peter Milliken. From statesmen such as Preston Manning and Senator Hugh Segal to retired General John de Chastelain, there is an abundance of qualified candidates to represent the Queen.

This is a rare set of circumstances, with her personal visit, and perhaps a personal announcement of her representative in the Capital on Canada Day, and we should take advantage of the circumstances to re-examine the role of the Vice-Regal in our system.

While originally designed to have real power and make executive decisions, the power of the Governor General has been curtailed since Confederation to the point that it is nothing more than a figurehead. Canadians have often expressed discontent that this ceremonial role should cost so much, and often question its necessity while simultaneously lamenting the concentration of power in the Prime Minister’s Office. In the quest to limit the powers of an unelected official, we have turned over Executive power to the Prime Minister, who was not directly elected to his position, either. Canadians often attribute these problems to too few democratic positions when, in fact, they stem from a distortion of the balance of power.

Initially, Canada had a system of checks in balances in government: an elected House of Commons for the people, an appointed Senate for the educated and elite, the Prime Minister and Cabinet to set forth a legislative agenda, and a Governor General to give authority to bills, maintain democracy and appoint the Prime Minister and Senators. This system ensured that no one body could dominate the other, and that balance kept all segments of society represented.

As democracy became a key issue of human rights in the 20th Century, more and more power was devolved from the unelected bodies to the House of Commons. But executive power cannot be dispersed so broadly and over time the executive authority once exercised by the Governor General came to centralise in the Cabinet. By Pierre Trudeau’s administration, this power had further centralised in the Prime Minister’s Office, and today some bureaucrats in the Prime Minister’s Office hold more power than most Senators and MPs.

Thus we arrive today at a system where Senators are appointed based on gimmickry or partisan hackwork, and where Parliament can be suspended at the will of the Prime Minister. Canada in many ways is an elected dictatorship. To fix this, we should take powers not intimately related to governing or advancing legislative priorities away from the Prime Minister’s Office and to the Governor General. A strong Governor General could appoint effective Senators, possibly even Senators devoid of party ties. The Governor General could stand up to the Prime Minister to preserve the integrity of Parliament. And finally, the Governor General could finally take on a meaningful role to make Canadians proud of their system of government.

While we could radically overhaul the system, the truth in Canada is that the less radical, the better. The easiest way to fix the democratic malaise is to restore the system as it was designed. These radical ideas range from electing or eliminating the Senate to declaring a Republic. But since when have Canadians decided that the best way to do things is to copy the United States?

Our Constitutional Monarchy is unique, and I’m pretty pleased with my country the way it is. We could do much worse, and hardly do better. Our system promotes compromise. Unlike our republican neighbours to the South, we are far less hyper-partisan. This is mostly due to the fact that we are led not by a partisan politician, but by the impartiality of the crown. It is a pity that most Canadians are woefully unaware of how their government works, because at the end of the day it’s what makes us who we are. With this new Governor General, we should take the time to re-examine the position, appreciate its importance in government, and restore its power and prestige. It’s time we value this system that has made us the envy of the world.

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

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