Recently, there was a poll taken in Canada comparing approval rates by Canadians for President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau. The poll looked at everything from the handling of policies related to the economy, security, immigration, foreign policy and health care — to name a few. However, such a comparison is really like comparing apples and oranges. The role of the executive branch in the two governments varies greatly and the constitutional powers are significantly different.
Canada follows the Westminster system based on ‘parliamentary sovereignty’ and ‘responsible government’. The Prime Minister represents the political party with a majority of seats in the House of Commons, and the Cabinet is chosen from among the party’s elected sitting Members of Parliament. For this reason, the PM depends on the support of his/her party to make policy and to pass laws in Parliament. The President on the other hand is elected separately and chooses his/her cabinet usually from non-elected persons who support his/her policies. While the PM sits in Parliament, the President must work to gather support from Congress to implement his/her policies. The PM must maintain the confidence of the House of Commons to continue to form the government. Otherwise, loss of a confidence vote in the House would mean that he/she must dissolve Parliament and usually call an election. Moreover, the PM’s ability to formulate policies is very much dependent on the support of his party in Parliament, thereby limiting the PM’s ability to independently issue executive orders. The President, unless he/she is impeached, normally resides comfortably for a four-year term.
The President is the civilian Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. He has the authority to command them to take appropriate military action in the event of a sudden crisis and certain circumstances. In Canada, the Queen is the head of state, and the Governor General officially represents her in the country. The Queen is therefore the Commander in Chief, although through the Governor General as her representative. The PM and the Government is somewhat limited in what military actions can be undertaken without Parliamentary approval, especially where new funding is required. None-the-less, in domestic or foreign crisis, the PM and the Cabinet can react as needed under certain circumstances. However, as in the U.S., there can be political consequences and negative electorate reactions to such actions.
Let’s face it, President Trump does not reflect all the views and positions of Republicans in both houses of Congress, especially when it comes to matters of free trade and immigration. Prime Minister Trudeau has no choice but to reflect the majority wishes of his party, which in this case is the governing Liberal Party. Therefore, to compare the policies of a President and Prime Minister isn’t really a fair comparison, especially when you have a President issuing so many ‘executive statements’ without any direct Congressional involvement. Furthermore, there appear to be a substantial amount of overt differences of positions between President Trump’s policies and the Republican Party. Such overt differences could not happen in Canada given the need for Party solidarity to continue governing under the Parliamentary system. Thus, forget any irrelevant comparisons between the two and polls like the one by the National Post.
FROLITICKS 
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