POL214Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Pierre Trudeau, Responsible Government, Focus Group
10 Oct 2013
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Document Summary
The machinery of government: finance, tbs, pco, inter-govt affs, pmo. Mp"s become less important due to public opinion surveys. Theory: responsible government: subverted in practise: strong party discipline. Patronage: potential for advancing, glue for party discipline. Positive aspects: permits strong, centralized, authoritative, robust government, no legislative deadlock, like the us. Savoie reading: pessimistic, no checks on gov, cabinet has become a focus" group. Appears to be like a rubber stamp. Only 1 government position on an issue. Pm selects anyone he wants: but, conventions restrict him, example, regional/provincial need for representation. Convention: can"t have a cabinet that is only francophone or anglophone. Values have changed: religion does not matter in selections anymore, as much as previously. Bilingual aspect: must make certain announcements/reports bilingual. Cabinet size: not fixed, generally want a small number of ministers to show that they are not many costs. Different pm"s have different styles: ex.
