The Canadian Form of Government: Reconciling Parliamentary Sovereignty and Executive Dominance under a System of Constitutional Supremacy

La forma di governo canadese: riconciliare la sovranità del Parlamento e la preminenza dell’Esecutivo in un sistema a supremazia costituzionale

Abstract

The paper addresses more specific and concrete issues which are of common concern from a comparative perspective. After analysing the Canadian constitutional model, some more concrete issues directly linked with the form of government will be approached, such as the centrality of the Prime Minister; the supremacy of the Government over the legislature; the role of the judiciary in the light of its relation with other constitutional branches; the nature and function of parliamentary bodies, from the perspective of the due balance between accountability and representativeness; finally, the role of “guarantee” bodies (the Crown, Governor General and the Supreme Court) within a constitutional distribution of powers which is increasingly subject to the influence of the political will of the majority.