Argus Posted August 31, 2021 Report Posted August 31, 2021 (edited) This is an excellent summary of the problems we have today with a parliamentary system in which parliament no longer has any power, in which cabinet ministers are nobodies, and all power rests with the PMO. It is the sort of thing Trudeau said he would do away with but instead embraced like a long lost friend the moment he was elected. Someone who certainly knows his way around government, retiring Liberal MP Wayne Easter, has strong views about centralization of power in government. The former cabinet minister, chair of the Commons Finance Committee and parliamentary veteran should know of what he speaks: “I think there’s far, far, too much control in the Prime Minister’s Office, right throughout the whole system,” he recently told the Hill Times. the PMO’s role has expanded enormously in recent years. It now develops and screens government policy initiatives, devises communications strategies, appoints ministerial chiefs of staff, and vets ministerial communications. It is the locus of authority where all decisions — large and small, good and bad — are made. It has also become the primary access point to government for media and the social media hub for the government. the cabinet has become, as a result, a shadow of its former self. We have moved from cabinet government, where cabinet was the main forum for discussing and responding to the key issues facing the country and the government, to a hybrid form of executive government centred on the prime minister and PMO. Even the unique role of the Minister of Finance around the cabinet table has been diminished as PMO exerts much more control over the budget process and fiscal matters. https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/lynch-and-eisler-parliament-can-regain-public-trust-by-decentralizing-power-in-the-prime-ministers-office Edited August 31, 2021 by Argus Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
Michael Hardner Posted August 31, 2021 Report Posted August 31, 2021 I look forward to reading this one. I have been saying for a long time that this needs to happen on a large scale. My example is that Canada Post, when it was a government service vs. Crown Corp, was always in the news taking up oxygen. We don't talk enough about COSTS and BENEFITS of programs. And we don't talk directly with our governments and each other. Quote Looks like someone has a new patronizing catch phrase ! Michael Hardner
myata Posted August 31, 2021 Report Posted August 31, 2021 Because naive imitations of democracy with party-corporations and party employees aka part-time maybe representatives could not work and were not made to work in this century? Two centuries back it was created as a thin veil over a colonial bureaucracy run by hand and hasn't changed much in essence or in function since. Quote If it's you or them, the truth is equidistant
Michael Hardner Posted August 31, 2021 Report Posted August 31, 2021 OK - read it. Short and powerful. There is ample reason for Canada to divorce parliament and the PMO from much of what goes on, which this article covers well. I would also support injecting better management and arm's length separation for Crown Corpses. I would support open citizens governance councils and focus groups as well as online engagement for all such organizations. Canada is a nation of busybodies - left and right - and we should be harnessing that to explore politically viable solutions that are not thought up by compromised and stale career bureaucrats. 1 Quote Looks like someone has a new patronizing catch phrase ! Michael Hardner
Argus Posted August 31, 2021 Author Report Posted August 31, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Michael Hardner said: OK - read it. Short and powerful. There is ample reason for Canada to divorce parliament and the PMO from much of what goes on, which this article covers well. I would also support injecting better management and arm's length separation for Crown Corpses. I would support open citizens governance councils and focus groups as well as online engagement for all such organizations. Canada is a nation of busybodies - left and right - and we should be harnessing that to explore politically viable solutions that are not thought up by compromised and stale career bureaucrats. All of that, unfortunately, starts with more independence for MPs. As long as leaders decide everything from where their MPs' offices go, to what international trips the get to go on, to what committees (if any) they sit on, to who does and does not get to run again MPs will have to do as they're told. British and Australian MPs have a degree of independence from their leader Canadian MPs can only dream about. That is because MPs are considered the representative of their constituencies to the House, whereas here they are considered the representative of the political party to their constituents. That's not to say there isn't party discipline there, too. They just tend to use it less often than in Canada. Edited August 31, 2021 by Argus Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
Michael Hardner Posted September 1, 2021 Report Posted September 1, 2021 56 minutes ago, Argus said: 1. All of that, unfortunately, starts with more independence for MPs. 2. That's not to say there isn't party discipline there, too. They just tend to use it less often than in Canada. 1. I think a new leader with new sounding ideas could sell this and rise above the pack. O'Toole is doing a bit of these and that already makes him remarkable, without even considering the value of the ideas eg. GST-free December 2. There are changes happening in the business world to be more responsive and realistic - and these trends will likely continue. Quote Looks like someone has a new patronizing catch phrase ! Michael Hardner
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