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Study Questions: Chapter 8

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1. How is the discretion of the monarch limited by constitutional convention with respect to carrying out his or her responsibilities?

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2. How has the relationship between the media and the political executive reduced Parliament, as Brooks and Ménard state, to “little more than a procedural sideshow”?

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3. In what ways should politically important interests, whenever possible, be “represented” by particular cabinet ministers? Explain.

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4. What does Donald Savoie mean when he states that there is no longer any inter or pares, only primus, in regards to the power of the prime minister?

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5. How has the increased role of the budget in policy-making strengthened the hands of the prime minister and the minister of finance?

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6. How does the role of the Prime Minister’s Office differ from the role of the Privy Council Office?

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7. What is the mandate of the federal Intergovernmental Affairs Office?

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8. What is the merit principle? How does it differ from the practice that it replaced?

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9. What are the six functions of the public bureaucracy?

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10. Is a completely representative bureaucracy is possible?

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11. Why did the Senate become less willing to defer to the will of the House of Commons after 1984?

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12. What role does Question Period play in the functioning of Canada’s Parliament?

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13. What is meant by the term “democratic deficit” with respect to Canadian politics?

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14. How and why do judicial decisions tend to serve or protect the status quo in society?

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15. How informative is the notion of “judicial independence”?

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