Canada's Prime Ministers Are Ruling Like Uncrowned Kings
Mark Carney has more concentrated power than any recent PM, and that's a problem — even if voters seem to like him.
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Britain's revolving-door prime ministership — six in ten years, possibly seven soon — looks chaotic from across the Atlantic. Canada, by contrast, seems remarkably stable. Our last two prime ministers each governed for about a decade. The latest, Mark Carney, engineered a majority government without winning one at the ballot box, giving him years ahead without meaningful challenge.
But stability and health are not the same thing. While British MPs retain the power to unseat their own party leader — Labour ousted Keir Starmer, Conservatives dumped Boris Johnson and Liz Truss — Canadian MPs are largely powerless. They sit behind the leader, clap when he speaks, and wait for his direction on what to think.
Carney has essentially stopped attending Question Period, treating Parliament as little more than theatre. Compare that to the "riveting spectacle" of Westminster, where ministers and prime ministers spar not just with opponents but with dissenting members of their own caucus.
Power in Ottawa has concentrated around the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Office — Canada's version of the West Wing. Past cabinets included formidable ministers with the standing to challenge the PM: Paul Martin under Jean Chrétien, Don Mazankowski under Joe Clark, Walter Gordon under Lester Pearson. "Who today has that kind of stature?" the Globe notes. "How many Canadians could even name one of Mr. Carney's top ministers?"
Oddly, this concentration has peaked under Carney, who has "the least political experience of anyone to hold the office in memory." His view is treated as law. MPs watch his leanings before staking their own positions — Toronto MPs have wavered over the island airport jets issue, waiting to see which way he tilts before speaking.
Carney is popular, and his international reputation as a banker is reassuring. But popularity is not a substitute for institutional checks. His decision to cut taxes while ramping up defence, infrastructure, and AI spending is deepening the federal deficit more than Justin Trudeau's spending ever did. His pivot toward Europe tilts away from North America, where Canada's interests actually lie. Using tens of millions in taxpayer money to buy BC condos for affordable housing risks distorting the housing market — a mistake a banker should know better than to make.
The British system has its flaws, but its MPs retain the power to reject leaders who fail. Canada's do not. That's a design flaw worth examining, popularity or not.
