Chapter 4 - The Crown and its Servants

Constitutional Monarchy

• A regime that is monarchical in law but democratic by convention

  • The British Regime

• A system where a monarch acts as the head of state within the framework of a constitution

  • Real political power is held by elected officials

  • Monarch’s powers are limited, decisions are advice to the Crown (but are actually commands)

Royal Assent

• Bills become laws when they have obtained royal assent

• Mandatory

• Convention stating that royal assent shall not be withheld

The Crown

• Concentration of power 

  • Power of appointment 

• Discretion of power

  • Necessary for situations

• Locus for Indigenous relationship to the Canadian state

  • Indigenous communities look to their relationship as one with the Crown

• Impact on relationship between provinces and the federal government

The Queen of Canada

• The powers, rights, and privileges of the Canadian crown

• Our monarch is the same person who serves as the monarch of Britain

• Wears multiple different crowns- British, Canadian and Australian

Governor General

• British monarch resides in Britain, difficult to reign actively in Canada

• The monarch’s representative, appointed by the monarch themself

• Lieutenant governors are provincial (role as the governor general but provincial) 

• The term is 5-7 years

• First governor generals were always British nobles who were appointed by the monarch, but now are former politicians 

  • Helpful because the GG is responsible for significant decisions

  • However, such appointments may be perceived as partisan

• Often recommended by government

• Official head of our armed forces

Functions of the Governor General

• Two important roles: steward of responsible government and representative of head of state (queen)

• Giving assent that is legally required for the exercise of any legislative power

• Shall have certain advisors (the PM and the Cabinet)

• Cabinet decisions are in legal terms “advice” to the Crown

• Must be well advised of cabinet’s activities

• PM meets regular with GG to talk about plans

  • PM may take advantage of this to seek advice privately on matters that cannot be discussed with the cabinet

Backstop of Responsible Government

• Necessary role of the GG

• The official who ensures that we have a government that enjoys the confidence of the House 

Reserve Powers

• Powers that the GG reserves the right to use on their own initiative

• Opening of gov’t, welcoming certain foreign dignitaries, presenting awards, and attending state funerals in foreign countries

1. Power to appoint the PM

2. Dismiss the PM who attempts to govern without the confidence of the House

3. Prorogue parliament or to dissolve parliament and call elections (dissolution- termination of a parliament and triggers new elections to reconstitute the House, prorogation is the termination of a parliament)

King-Byng Affairs, 1926

• PM King realized his minority gov’t was going to be defeated

• Led to a vote of non-confidence

• Asked GG Byng to dissolve parliament and call new elections

• GG refused because it was about to lose parliament’s confidence

The Cabinet

• Exercises both executive and legislative power

  • Especially in majority gov’t

• Consists of privy councillors who advise the Crown

  • More common to call them “ministers” because most members of the cabinet spend most of their time “advising the Crown

Queen’s Privy Council for Canada

• Right to “advise” the GG in the exercise of their powers

• Privy councillors are servants of the Crown

• Controls all powers granted by the Constitution to the Crown/GG

• Sec. 11 states that GG appoints privy councillors, but convention stipulates that the GG will make appointments based on advice from PM

  • Appointments for life

• Power to “advise” the GG will be exercised only by a small subset of privy councillors

  • Those who have been nominated by the current PM and have maintained confidence of the PM

    • This is called the cabinet

    • Size is set by PM

Parliamentary Secretaries 

• A number of MPs that sometimes answer questions in the House of behalf of a minister

• Serves as an assistant/apprentice to the minister 

• Used as a way of auditioning newer MPs for subsequent promotion to Cabinet

Collective Responsibility

• Cabinet must function as a team to develop, implement, and take responsibility for public policy

• Essential element of responsible gov’t

• It is not individual ministers who must maintain confidence, it’s the cabinet

• Whenever ministers have an idea for new legislation in their area, their proposal must win the approval of the cabinet before it can be taken to parliament

• Important executive decisions will normally be approved by the cabinet as a whole rather than by a single minister in charge of that area

• Any decision made by the cabinet as a whole must be defended by each member

  • A cabinet minister who is not prepared to defend a position taken by the cabinet must resign (convention)

• Secrecy because ministers have to be able to debate on proposed measures before they decide on them (unable to if they revealed that they had spoken out against it)

Cabinet Committees 

• Dividing up the cabinet’s work into smaller groups 

  • More efficient

  • Organized around a particular policy (I.e. social policy)

• PM has the ability to organize cabinet committees into however system they like 

• Cabinet must approve committee’s recommendations without too much debate (leads to inefficiency)

• “Super-committee” - priorities and planning committee, chaired by PM, responsible for broad gov’t policy

• Departmentalized and institutionalized

  • How the PM and senior advisors have approached the organization of the Cabinet

  • All comes down to the PM

Treasury Board

• Manages the gov’t expenditure of monies 

• Oversees human resource matters in federal gov’t 

Departmentalized Approach

• Autonomy for ministers and experts 

• Debate and contest

• Decentralized (relying on departments)

Institutionalized Approach

• More committees in cabinet

• Less authority for departments and ministers

  • Make more decisions about budget

• Centralized (reliance on central agencies)

Prime Minister Functions

Functions:

• Leader of a party 

• Chief of policy (lead spokesperson for Cabinet, defend what they’re doing)

• Chief of personnel (appointments)

  • Increasingly PMO dominated

  • PMO keeps tabs on what appointments must be filled and who the leading candidates are

  • Recommendation to the PM

• Chief of gov’t organizations

• Chief diplomat (sets tone of foreign policy and conducts it personally)

  • Opportunities for leads too shape the country’s precession and relationship with other countries (Canada and US)

• Chief advisor to the Crown

• First, first minister

Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)

• A central agency 

• Consists of partisan political activists rather than career civil servants 

• Responsible for monitoring the general political situation

• Give PM advice 

• Coordinate PM’s affairs 

Privy Council Office (PCO)

• Another central agency

• Consists of non-partisan career civil servants

• Charged with ensuring that public service implements the policies and delivers services as directed by the gov’t

• Serves as a secretariat to the cabinet and is responsible to the PM

• Facilitates collective work of the cabinet

  • Organize and provide logistical support for its meetings and its committees

• Can give policy advice to the PM and cabinet (distinct from political advice from PMO)

• Headed by the chief clerk (highest-ranking civil servant in the country)

Deputy Prime Minister

• Assist the PM in their duties 

• A member of the cabinet who has a portfolio of their own

• Also serves as a kind of second in command to the PM 

• Fills in for PM when they are absent 

• Give work to deputies in order to concentrate on 2-3 more important issues 

Prime Ministerial Government

• Traditionally, Canada is a cabinet gov’t and executive power is shared collectively with the PM and cabinet (fusion of powers)

• Power has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of the PM and not shared with the cabinet

• Happening because of centralizing of power in PMO

  • PMO has grown in size and influence

• Happening because of party discipline

  • MPs and cabinet ministers rarely challenge PM because of party control

• Happening because of media and personalization

  • Modern politics (focusing on leader)

• Happening because of control over cabinet and parliament

  • PM controls cabinet composition and can dissolve parliament through GG

Caucus

• The team of MPs from a party 

• Key source of support 

Civil Servants

• Tasks can be too complex if a small number of ministers must handle them

• In 2019, the federal gov’t employed ~275,000 of them

• Non-partisan professionals, hired on the basis of merit (not political connections)

  • Hired by the politically neutral Public Service Commission (PSC)

• Civil service is divided into two branches

  • Line departments

  • Central agencies

Line Departments

• Ministries such as transport, health, and foreign affairs 

• Majority of the work 

• Provide services to the general public 

Central Agencies

• PCO, the department of finance, treasury board

• Engage in the coordination of gov’t policy, rather than in delivery of particular services to the public

• Wield a lot of power

• I.e. Civil servants who work as officers for Canada Border Services Agency have authority when searching the cars of Canadians returning from visits to the US

Ministerial Responsibility

• Ensure all civil servants are accountable for the way in which they carry out their duties

• Prevent abuses of power

• The minister who heads each department must be accountable to the House for the conduct of each and every civil servant working in that department

• Ministers may be asked to investigate allegations of incompetence or impropriety in their departments

  • If incompetence is substantial, convention of this is that the minister must resign