Canadian Cabinet and the Prime Minister: a structural study.

Elite Attitudes on the Centralization of Power in Canadian Political Executives: A Survey of Former Canadian Provincial and Federal Cabinet Ministers, 2000–2010

“…For this article, I surveyed 105 former provincial and federal cabinet ministers who served between 2000 and 2010 to examine the concentration of power since Savoie's seminal work (1999a). The results of the survey suggest that a pan-Canadian cabinet culture exists that functions as a collegial body within the autocratic model, therefore reflecting a number of previous cabinet decision-making models (Aucoin, 1986; Bakvis, 2000; Dunn, 1995; Dupré, 1987; Matheson, 1976; Savoie, 1999a; White, 2005). Savoie may have been accurate when he said that “court government has taken root in Canada” (1999b: 635) but based on my findings, effective power still rests within the cabinet in a manner that reflects a hybrid autocratic–collegial decision-making model.…”

“…Before Savoie most of the literature focused on the institutional structure rather than institutional decision making. The models are well-known; from Matheson (1976) to Aucoin (1986) to Dupré (1987) to to Dunn (1995), there is general agreement that cabinet government has evolved from a simple structural operation, also described as the “traditional cabinet,” to one that is built on complex decision-making structures and committees or as the “institutionalized cabinet” to the more autocratic “first minister centred cabinet.” The following table displays the four most common cabinet operation models found in the literature and each interpretation of decision-making culture.…”

“…Most academics studying the Canadian political executive have agreed that cabinet is a powerful and central institution to political decision making in Canada (Aucoin, 1986; Bakvis, 1991; Franks, 1987; Hockin, 1977; Matheson, 1976; White, 2005). However, there is one key figure in all parliamentary cabinets that disrupts the distribution of decision making: the first minister.…”

Surveying the Canadian State: Evolution of Canadian Political Science, Politics, and Government Since 1967

“…Prime ministers and premiers wield considerable clout, such as through the selection of fellow members of the executive and styling the legislative agenda. While their trappings and tools may have evolved, our early learnings about the power of prime ministers (Matheson, 1976) and their mandarins (Campbell and Szablowski, 1979) remain relevant today. Some studies suggest this concentration of power within the Prime Minister's Office has increased (Savoie, 1999), just as the line between the political domain of elected officials and their partisan staffers, on one hand, has become blurred with the policy domain of non-partisan public servants, on the other (Craft, 2016).…”