Canwest: Curb PM's power, urges top scholar

OTTAWA - Canada's Constitution should be opened to rein in the power of its prime ministers who rule like monarchs surrounded by a tight circle of courtiers, says a leading scholar on public administration.

Donald Savoie, a political economist at the University of Moncton, said Canada's political institutions are so broken they require a constitutional overhaul to define the role of the prime minister, ministers and the public service rather than relying on unwritten constitutional conventions that haven't been working for years.

"There are no effective checks and balances from cabinet, the civil service or Parliament to protect prime ministers from grabbing power and abusing it," he wrote.

He said the convention of the loyal and anonymous public servant is long gone and time has come to give public servants the "personality" and the independence they need to say no or "speak truth to power" to their political masters when pulled into the political arena.

Savoie has been warning about the concentration of power and 'politicization' of the public service in articles and books ever since he wrote the 1999 book Governing from the Centre, which made him persona non grata with then-prime minister Jean Chretien.

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