The Prime Minister's Power In Canada

When comparing the prime minister’s power in correlation to the political actors below them to that of a premier’s, it can be seen that they both hold relative strength. Yet, the prime minister has greater overall power compared to premiers and can take substantial steps to limiting their influence and ability.

Both political figures assign their own cabinet members, and both hold considerable influence over their appointees. If they so choose to have a cabinet minister dismissed, it can be done effectively and efficiently. Both keep their members loyal and in fear of losing their positions should they not follow the leader’s interests, much like with former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Watergate esque “Enemy List”. Members are chosen and monitored closely by the leader; as a parasitic cabinet minister may be detrimental to a party’s health and public success. In both federal and provincial levels of government this is shown to be true, especially with the stark similarities between the two political figures. Where the sources and limitations of power becomes more interesting is in how the prime minister can control and influence the premiers.

The largest areas of government expenditure in Canada come

The Feds then distribute this money to the provinces by the way of transfer payments or as targeted funding for specific programs and without this influx of cash, the provinces would have a significantly smaller bank account to deal with, thus decreasing their given power. Politics are based fundamentally on strategy and what better of a tactic than to include strings attached to the payment? The prime minister has the capability to set conditions that certain provinces must meet in order to obtain federal money. This gives the PM a high degree of influence over the provinces and allows them to set the broad guidelines that the provinces must