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Style within the centre: Pierre Trudeau, the W ar M easures A ct, and the nature of prime ministerial power
Author(s) -
Munroe H.D.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-7121.2011.00191.x
Subject(s) - humanities , prime minister , political science , autocracy , power (physics) , politics , philosophy , law , democracy , physics , quantum mechanics
The notion that the prime minister of C anada wields autocratic power is common in popular and academic discourse. D onald S avoie's work on the subject implies that this is an inevitable result of centripetal forces in C anadian politics, combined with a process of centralization that began with P ierre T rudeau in the late 1960s. P eter A ucoin's analysis of the role of prime ministerial management styles, however, suggests that there may be more scope for individual agency than a narrow reading of S avoie implies. An investigation of the decision‐making process in the Trudeau government that led to the invocation of the W ar M easures A ct in O ctober 1970 lends credence to the view that, despite centralizing pressures, the exercise of prime ministerial power is significantly shaped by personal style. This suggests that the putative “elected dictatorship” of the prime minister is not an inevitable consequence of the current institutional configuration of power, as is sometimes suggested.