The Changing Role of the Prime Ministers Office - Essay Example

The changing role of the prime minister’s office Introduction Marc Lalonde’s 1971 piece, “The Changing Role of the Prime Minister’s Office” from Canadian Public Administration, volume 14, issue 4 is a state of the art article on the Office of Canadian Prime Minister. This essay analyzes in detail the M.Lalonde’s issue and the various factors regarding Office of Prime Minister of Canada. According to Lalonde, the office of the prime minister has evolved in bits and pieces, the reason for its evolution solely is the powers, duties and the influence it has on public administration. Here we are not only going to discuss the individual role of Prime Minister in the umbrella of Canadian constitution, but also the role of Prime Minister in getting public to him and the vast context of leadership. A Canadian Prime Minister plays a number of roles in a single time: he speaks to the Canadian people in the form of a leader, he also heads the government, he is a chief spoke person in the House of Commons and a leader or active member of the ruling political party. The way a Prime Minister put on his office to a large extent reflects his mentality, thinking, working style and his priorities and the huge sum responsibilities a Prime Minister holds. This is the prime subject of the paper written by Lalonde and that we are going to deal herein, mainly about the responsibilities of a Prime Minister. We often subjudicize the work of Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) on the actions taken up by the Prime Minister himself, the reason for bringing appreciation or negative criticism. The paper is divided into two sub categories: the first part introduces PMO in a short way, its functionalities, role and authority; while the second part deals with how the office aids the PM in accumulating with his responsibilities. What is the role of Canada’s Prime Minister? From the day Canada was declared a republic under the crown to this day, a very few writings have been created about the role of Canadian Prime Minister and most importantly, about the role of his office. This might be surprising but not for many Canadians, because an active Canadian or even British PMO has never been part of the political systems under the crown. Apart from the rules, the PMO body has gradually evolved in size and power in Canada. A number of changes took place after Trudeau got elected in 1968. This evolution has gained speed within the last 5 years. In 1945 Prime Minister William Lyon for the 5th time won state’s election. People thought that the Liberal government is capable of driving them away from the postwar distress. Lyon was too old to work efficiently and shared his work and power with his secretary of state for foreign affairs. Soon after that, Williams his secretary of state, took the office from where beaurocracy entered different forms of the government. They were St. Laurent and Pearson. No men in Canada’s politics was going to have such a long lasting effect as these two had on political system. Under their leadership Canadians were united to obtain an independent and truly responsible, power democratic and economic state. They now understood, after the World War II, that to maintain peace and prosperity within the state is very mandatory. Under these two, the foreign office gained power and understood the methods Canada going to take interest in global matters. Canada emerged as a prominent state in UN and NATO, by the esteem politics from the Prime Minister’s Office. PMO’s diplomacy made alliance with the ruling powers, London and Washington. This way the Canadians term 1950’s as the golden era of PMO which continues to find its lost legacy to this date. What is the role of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)?   Head of Government The Prime Minister of Canada is the most powerful person among the cabinets’ officials as he is the Head of the Government of Canada. The terminology of head of government is referred due to the reason that PM is the head of the decision making body-cabinet. In the Canadian ruling system, the title of head of government is owned by the Prime Minister while the monarch is named as the head of the state. But the monarch responsibilities are much lesser than that of a PM, who only participates in ceremonies and has nothing to do with the active politics of the country. This is quite different from the US way of government, where the president has complete attorney over country’s matters. History of the Prime Minister The Office of the Prime Minister is deeply rooted in the British Parliamentary custom. Canada adopted this way of government very soon after the country emerged on the world map in 1867. It was in 1900s when the cabinet actually thought of a leader among the cabinet ministers to develop harmony in the cabinet’s plan and the title of Prime Minister was shaped. Since its formation, the role of Prime Minister has changed its shape and course in Canada. In the early years the PM exercised very little control over the Cabinet Ministers. In fact, the PM was better referred as the first person in Cabinet. However, today the PM has the responsibility and power to dominate each of the Cabinet ministers and play his part in decision making. Since Confederation, the role of Prime Minister has undergone considerable change in Canada. In the early years, it was customary for the Prime Minister to exercise very little control over other senior Cabinet Ministers. In fact, it was common to refer to the Prime Minister as simply the “First amongst equals.” Today, however, it is customary for the Prime Minister to dominate his or her Cabinet, and to play a much more central role in government decision-making. The Powers & Responsibilities of the Prime Minister The Prime Minister enjoys complete authority in appointing people, either they be from the judiciary, the parliament, beurocrate or any diplomat, suitable for the task according to the PM’s perspective. The authority, control and responsibilities of the Prime Minister’s office It is mandatory for the Prime Minister to implement those conducts that formerly fall under the rule of monarchy (crown). While according to the law, these powers should still be powered by the monarchy, they now cannot work without the orders from the House of the Prime Minister. It’s the Prime Minister who decides to dissolve a Parliament and when exactly the next general elections should take place. The crown’s representative in Canada is again chosen by the Prime Minister. The responsibility of forming a Cabinet is entrusted to the Prime Minister. She/he has the complete authority to choose people eligible for the cabinet. What tasks a person in the cabinet is going to perform is again selected by the Prime Minister. The cabinet members need to follow the orders from the Prime Minister’s Office, or the Prime Minister has the authority to ask for their resignation, or if necessary dismiss them altogether from the cabinet. This policy keeps the Cabinet of Ministers supportive and obedient under the Prime Minister’s rule. In addition to the authority of appointing the Cabinet members, the Prime Minister also holds power to appoint any person in any government office or expel him/her from the office. Senators, judges, people of the government agencies and deputy ministers fall under this category. This power allows the anti-Prime Minister people to stay away from all of the government posts, and the government merely constitutes of Prime Ministers followers. This in turn renders ease for the Prime Minister to impose his ideology. In this way the entire country flows under the rule of Prime Minister’s Office. Like-minded people work together in the Canadian government to reach their goals and objectives. The task of putting up a government and organizing it is also a task assigned to the Canadian Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the one who decides on the need of committees, councils and agencies and the way the management matters need to be dealt under the parliament. The PM can create new departments and close down the old ones, if he/she feels the need to do so, and even privatizes or nationalizes industries for the goodwill of Canadian government. He can perform all these actions with or without the approval of the cabinet members. The Prime Minister is the country’s top diplomat. He is the representative of the state in most international summits and conferences and maintains all affairs regarding the bi-lateral relationships between countries of the world. The Government meetings, UN meetings and Commonwealth conferences are the scheduled tasks of a Prime Minister. How has the PMO changed over its life span, according to Mr. Lalonde, and why has it done so? Prime Minister MacDonald came with a vision to expand Canada’s territory from the west and make a vast area comprising of railroads How long does a Prime Minister for Canada stay in office? The Canadian state has a parliamentary form of government, which means that the Prime Minister sits under the Head Speaker in the room of the Parliament. The Prime Minister is elected after a voting in the Parliament. This implies that the Prime Minister belongs to the party which is in absolute majority in the Parliament. As long as the party aligns it with the PM and as long as the Prime Minister leads the government in a responsible way, he/she can run the job the PMO and remains in power. In some of the cases none of the party has the 2/3rd majority in the parliament. Here the majority party has to make a coalition government with either one or several minority parties. As long as these parties unite to attain the Prime Minister post, no one can eliminate the PM from his/her office. A vote of confidence is required by the PM whenever there is a call from the members of the parliament. If the PM loses the vote of confidence by election, he/she has to resign from the post immediately. Losing a Prime Minister calls for re-elections throughout the country. Prime Minister and the Cabinet The Prime Minister and the Cabinet he forms are the symbols of absolute power and authority in Canada. They drive the national policy and they execute laws which the nation follows. Powers & Responsibilities of the Cabinet Being the focal point of all power in Canada, the cabinet has also several important responsibilities to deal with. Some of them are: The powers of the crown are now owned by the ministers sitting in the cabinet. All the treaties, assignments and bills are processed by the Cabinet members. All the declaration regarding war and peace are also dealt by the Cabinet. The powers of legislation in Canada are now owned by the people sitting in the Cabinet. This also involves the approval of the members of House of Commons and the Upper House (Senate). However, the Cabinet enjoys complete authority about the implementation of any law. The powers of Administration are also held by the Cabinet. The Cabinet heads are the leading people in different government departments and agencies. References: Dawson, Robert M. G, and Norman Ward. The Government of Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970. Print. Read More