Critical Response Paper #1

Spencer Sullivan
169050173
PO263 A1
Paper Word Count: 1150

If one can question the structure of our government, at what point does it mean we should

change it? That is what Donald Savoie, a Canadian scholar from l’Université de Moncton, makes

us wonder through his intelligent work from his article, The Rise of Court Government in

Canada. This text addresses the large political problem of power division, and the small handful

of people who wielded such power at one point not long ago. Savoie claims that powers have

shifted over time, developing a system which he calls ‘Court Government’. I feel as though his

analysis of the history of Court Government is well-defined and truly brings into light the change

of government dynamics that have taken place.

The first part of Savoie’s article really encapsulates what Court Government is as well as

the history of power within our government. For Savoie, Court Government essentially revolves

around the power that the Prime Minister has and the group of selected courtiers, Cabinet

Ministers, selected lobbyists, pollsters and other important people that work underneath him or

her. These important individuals have the power to create change and can change things almost

at the snap of their fingers. Savoie discusses the power shift that has occurred over time within

the Canadian parliamentary system. He mentions that the Senior Minister, C.B. Power, first

noticed a power shift due to his observation that claimed the war had given the Cabinet strength

whilst diminishing the Parliament’s strength. After WWII however, the Cabinet seemed to have

lost a majority of power. During the 1960s, Canada’s focus was headed towards proposing

constitutional vs internal machinery. The development of machinery ultimately assisted in the

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development of federalism and public service. As time moved towards the 70s, the

departmentalized Cabinet was replaced which caused them to not have a full cabinet.

Savoie also touches on the development of Cabinet and Cabinet Ministers that are under the

Court Government. For example, the Privy Council Office. The role of the Privy Council Office

has changed because of a man named Arnold Heeney. Arnold Heeney was a founder of the

modern cabinet office, and was opposed to Mackenzie King’s plan to make the secretary to the

Cabinet more of a Minister than a secretary. In 1997, the Privy Council Office created an official

document that outlined the role and structure of the secretary. The secretary has 3 main

responsibilities. They must provide advice/support to the Prime Minister, they must provide

advice/support to the whole Ministry and ensure they are responsible for the quality of advice

provided by the Public Service to the Prime Minister, the Ministry and to every single Canadian.

Pollsters assist the Prime Minister, deciding what is important to Canadians and create priorities

that affect the citizens. The Prime Minister is the final decision maker and representative of the

people. Savoie mentions that Cabinet members do not challenge the Prime Minister as they do

not want to have to resign, which in itself seems quite unfair as it restricts them from voicing

their honest thoughts.

Savoie touches on multiple ideas that aid in his presentation of the change in government.

Firstly, the change of the centre of government seems to be one of the strongest and most

intriguing parts of Savoie’s article. He believes that throughout Canadian history, more

specifically since the 1990s, the structure of our centralized government has taken a drastic

change in development. This is due to multiple factors, such as the change in the decision

making and increase of PMO staff. Pierre Trudeau, during his days as the leader of Canada,

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chose to enlarge the size of the PMO as well as their scope. What exactly did this mean for

Canada? This meant that although he and the rest of his office said that they were still simply a

“service-oriented organization” (Savoie, 645), more centralization of power would be transferred

over to the PMO as they have a wider range of staffing and population over the rest of the

Canadian government. Secondly, Savoie highlights that globalization has played a major role in

developing our government. Justin Trudeau, unlike many other Prime Ministers that have helped

lead our country, uses globalization to our advantage as he constantly is involving Canada with

other countries to further expand and hopefully create long-lasting relations with others. Thirdly

and lastly, the mass media plays a large role in the change of government due to the fact that the

media counts as a political actor. When the media spreads news regarding politics and

government matters, it usually also spreads a bias. With media attention that conveys bias or

siding-opinions, it may hurt opposition and in itself makes the author(s) a political actor that can

influence the decision-making and thought process of citizens.

I have found Savoie’s work to be interesting as well as significant to today’s government as

change is a prominent feature of not only the Canadian government, but the rest of the world as

well. Savoie’s argument regarding the centralization of government in Canada has demonstrated

the creation of division of power. We, as the government, should look forward to this and

possibly take a different approach to our government body. Even taking a step back and

evaluating how our past government worked could change it for the better. For example, what if

Trudeau hadn’t made changes to the PMO? With less people, could one argue that there would

be greater responsibility for members of the PMO, maybe changing the system for the better? It

would be great to see change in the office as many older ways of government easily get swept

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under the rug when change occurs. I also found the central forces of government, more

specifically the mass media, to be quite relevant to today’s society as we are more connected

than ever. We have a high number of news channels and social media accounts that cover

politics, and with the rise of fake information and extreme bias, how could that be affecting the

way we engage with politics? If the government engages with the people at an individual level

now that we have the ability to reach people online, we could use that to further develop policies

and important topics that need to be reviewed.

To wrap up Savoie’s article, it begs me to ponder the question: How does one go about changing

our government? Not even just Canada, but our world as a whole has been moving extremely

quickly throughout the past century. We as humanity have come far enough to be connected and

now we must use that to further develop the institutions and structure that was built long ago. All

in all, Savoie’s work outlines and questions the government we live under, but how can we refine

it and make it the most optimal it can be?

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