Unfollow the leader: The case for power-sharing in political parties GlobeDebate
Special to The Globe and MailJustin Ling is a freelance journalist covering politics and policy from Toronto.
For the most part, Canada has been pretty happy with that system. Leaders of the country tend to come into office with approval ratings north of 60 per cent – and, as they lose their shine, we tend to throw them into the organics bin and move on to our next affection. That’s kind of how our system works.
So the whole crop of candidates for Canada’s top job might be well served to ask themselves the same question Ms. May has been considering: Is it time to ditch the idea of the leader? Increasingly, though, it seems Canada’s prime minister has become, simply, first. The prime minister, as leader of their party, caucus and cabinet, has assumed a level of power that makes them more monarch than minister. Few other parliaments see such party rigidity as Canada’s, and hardly any afford so much power to the leaders and so little to individual MPs. Punishing rules governing independent MPs and small parties don’t help.
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