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A reformed Senate as a check on prime ministerial power.
- Article from:
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Canadian Parliamentary Review
- Article date:
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March 22, 2008
- Author:
- Sotiropoulos, Evan
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2008 Canadian Parliamentary Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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One problem of Canadian parliamentary democracy is the concentration of power in the hands of the Prime Minister and the ascendancy of the Prime Ministers Office over Parliament. This article looks at some of the reasons for the weakness of the House of Commons vis a vis the Prime Minister. It then looks at the Senate and the place a reformed Senate may have in acting as a counterweight to a system that has been transformed from executive centred to prime ministerial dominated.
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In a representative democracy, individuals are elected to represent the views of the citizenry and, in theory, meet in a common place to actually debate public policy. Although the ...