Re: Image of PM as king hit right on the mark (Letters, vicnews.com)
With or without clothes, King Stephen rules supreme in Ottawa. The autocratic centralization of both executive and legislative powers in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has effectively hollowed parliament’s role, with the dictates of caucus solidarity suffocating the regional voices of individual MPs by rigid party discipline, and demanding sheeplike obedience.
To correct Canada’s democracy deficit, separation of the executive branch (PMO) and legislative branch (parliament) would achieve a functional system of much-needed political checks and balances. But that may be just a tad too “republican” for this democratically challenged “Kingdom” of ours.
E.W. Bopp
Tsawwassen
