The Lack of Parliament Oversight In The Canadian Government

Properly overseeing the powers of a nation's leader is imperative in order to achieve a properly functioning democracy. In the ever more complex world of Canadian Politics, Parliament not only fails to oversee the powers of the Prime Minister adequately, but the chance of objection is avoided altogether with assistance from the Whip, it also fosters an environment ruled by fear, often lacking the time and resources for essential oversight completely.

Firstly, one may assume a democratic government would be a place where opinions and criticisms are welcomed, however, the Canadian Parliament proves to be a place where these judgments are quickly silenced, often before they even have a chance to surface. This becomes obvious when considering how important party discipline is within the Canadian government. There is an entire position appointed by the Prime Minister, called the Whip, dedicated to “Make sure the team follows directives and stays united” (Telford p. 120). This is a clear indication that at the end of the day, it is solely up to the Prime Minister and his or her appointed Whip to decide how the Members of Parliament will vote on an upcoming issue. In fact, if there is any indication that a member is not going to support an upcoming vote “The whip will attempt to make sure the member does not appear for the vote and embarrass the Prime Minister'' (Telford p.120). Clearly, it is more important for the Prime Minister, to not be publicly embarrassed, than to indulge in potentially varying opinions of members of his or her own government. These actions are a clear indication that disagreeing with the Prime Minister is simply not an option, creating a situation where no one is free to speak their mind. It is unfair that these individuals are not even allowed to participate in a vote based on the premise of what might happen. This defeats the purpose of a vote entirely, thus undermining the premise of a true democracy. Adequate oversight certainly becomes lost in a process where the chance of objection is entirely avoided before even being considered.

Furthermore, a government ruled by fear more similarly represents the qualities of dictatorship, rather than an open and free democracy. The Prime Minister of Canada takes this fear and holds it over the Member of Parliament’s heads as a looming threat. In the event one were to cast a vote against the party “They will be relieved of their position as minister, cabinet secretary, or committee member…This is the kiss of death for most members of Parliament, as some unfortunate souls have discovered” (Telford p. 120). This means that even if the Members of Parliament’s opinions weren’t previously silenced by the Whip, it would result in them losing their position in Parliament anyway, making them unlikely to do so because of this looming fear held over them by the Prime Minister. It inevitably becomes impossible for Parliament to offer sufficient oversight of the powers of the Prime Minister if they are scared out of doing so. While this may create a sense of unity from the outside, it is a fact that this is not the oversight necessary to ensure power is not being abused by a central authority figure. In fact, it likely creates a sense of uselessness among Members of Parliament, leading to resentment being harbored, creating even more internal divisions.

In addition, The Canadian government is a large organization and understandably has many moving parts. As a result, any sort of meaningful oversight would of course require sufficient time and resources to even begin to implement a system to make this a reality. While this is certainly no easy task, if “The elected members of Parliament often lack the time, resources, and especially, the information necessary to hold the government accountable” (Telford p. 118), how can we even expect any meaningful oversight to take place? This obviously means that even if Members of Parliament got the chance to oversee these powers, and didn’t lose their job for doing so, they still couldn’t, solely based on a lack of proper resources. This is a clear indication of a failure within our government system to hold the Prime Minister properly accountable for his or her actions. While resources such as time are in fact limited, perhaps allocating more resources towards this need would foster a system with more faith in the oversight of the Prime minister's powers, creating more trust in the Canadian government altogether.

In summary, completely ignoring the potentially opposing views of its constituents becomes an impossible ground for one to even begin to offer any oversight period, never mind adequate oversight. A fear-based system further discourages Members of Parliament from voicing their real opinions, even in the event the Whip was to allow them to do so. Assurance of proper time and resources would need to be dedicated to this seemingly impossible task in order for adequate oversight over the Prime Minister's powers to be put in place. With all these factors considered, it becomes clear that adequate oversight within the Canadian government is non-existent.

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