The government system of Canada comprises a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. Parliament consists of three elements: The Queen (represented by the governor general), the Senate, and the House of Commons (Government of Canada, 2017). It is now debated that the quality of democracy has enhanced due to the growing power of the Executive, while the Members of Parliament are not able to deal with modern issues of the Canadian political economy. I agree with the statement because today constitutional monarchy is described as the form of government in which king’s or queen’s power is limited to the ceremonial duties, while the country is ruled by politicians who seem to have a fresher view on the modern political issues.
Historically, a monarchy was absolute, which implied that a monarch served as the sole source of political power. Today, the Canadian Constitution states that executive power belongs to the Queen, however, this power is “exercised by the Prime Minister and his ministers” (Government of Canada, 2017, para. 11). This indicates that the power of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet has grown.
Some state that Members of Parliament lack the capacity to keep up with modern, challenging issues in the Canadian political economy. It is likely to be true because the average age of the Members is 51.73 (Parliament of Canada, 2017). Regarding the healthy constitutional democracy, this situation is likely to have negative effects. Canada became democratic in 1867 with each Member of Parliament representing interests of a separate district of Canada (Pilon, 2017). The fact that they do not have the power they used to seems to be a negative side of the situation.
Since the power of the Member of Parliament has weakened, the existence of a healthy constitutional democracy in Canada raised questions. This type of democracy presupposes that despite the presence of a monarch or another leader, the voice of a nation is taken into account with the help of the elected officials. For example, in the UK, The Queen’s supreme power is formal, while the actual power is in the hands of those chosen by the nation.
With the growing power of the Executive, one can assume that Canada lacks the healthy constitutional democracy. Today, it is characterized as a country ruled by the Prime Minister, while the power of the Members of Parliament has weakened due to the lack of capacity to keep up with modern political issues.
References
Government of Canada. (2017). Democracy in Canada.
Parliament of Canada. (2017). Members of the House of Commons average age. Web.
Pilon, D. (2017). The contested origins of Canadian democracy. Studies in Political Economy, 1-19.