# Absolute power corrupts absolutely
In a day where a few men command power over the lives of billions that quote by John Dalberg-Acton in 1887 tends to resonate. Honestly it is a scary time in the world. War in Ukraine. War in Iran. Cartel led riots in Mexico. A raid into Venezuela. Pakistan and Afghanistan in conflict. Japan and China trading verbal jabs. It makes me wonder about the concentration of power into one person: President, Supreme leader, or whatever you may call them...Is it a good idea or does that much power lead to too much corruption? When I see powerful leaders behaving in ways I don't think are appropriate it makes me kind of glad for the government system that Canada has. We don't have a president. We do have a King but he holds exceedingly little power in the country. Instead we get a Prime Minister who actually doesn't even technically need to be elected and who can easily be replaced if they prove unpopular with the people. It wasn't that long ago that I watched huge crowds at a "No King's Rally" in the USA and my first thought was: If he is that unpopular why not have a confidence vote and get someone else. That is when I started paying attention to how things are done in the USA and noted that removing a president is far different and far more difficult than in Canada. ### When I first started caring about who became our leader. In Grade 4 there was a Canadian election. I lived in a small town of maybe 9,000 so we rarely got political figures come by. When Joe Clark came to town, my Grade 4 teacher brought the entire class to hear the speech. He was very convincing (to a 10 year old) and I was so pleased when he became Canada's Prime Minister. 6 months later he wasn't Prime Minister any more and there was another election. At the time I couldn't figure out why he was Prime Minister for so short a period of time. A much older me understands how the process works and I smile when I think that Mr. Clarke's short time as Prime Minister shows me the system works and I would like to say that it keeps one person from having absolute power. ..... and it all comes down to trust.....Ok, maybe not trust.....Confidence.

# We have a King...sort of
Unless someone has changed the rules Canada has a King. King Charles. How much power does he have in Canada? Well, I would say very little and honestly he works through a proxy. The Governor General. I'm sure they do many things but their primary role is this: If the Prime Minister loses confidence with the people he calls for a new election. When the election is over he asks those people who are newly elected if they have confidence in the old Prime Minister (if he hasn't resigned) or asks who they do have confidence in if there is a vacant spot. Who are these "newly elected people?". They are Members of Parliament. MPs for short. There are 338 of them voted on from all over Canada. Each region sends over one MP so for my region we have ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/terganftp/243qW3hkJpERAZmigpV3JLFd6JPijYKNt2SC3ZsgsJhbRHpizr67FaAmDhV3qywdLnPJy.png) Image taken from his official website: www.bradvis.ca He is just one of 338 voices in our government but he is ***OUR*** voice. He isn't someone from far away. He is local, He knows our local area. He speaks for our local area and if an election is called the difficulty level of running for MP is quite low. People can't be rich and indeed there are limits on how much can be spent to campaign. You just have to have a small core group of supporters and someone to track how much you spend. Guess what? He has a local office. Typically open for public to come and speak with him (when he is in town and not in Ottawa where our government convenes). ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/terganftp/23r1nzL5piBL74Sa6BvjVjVnStovLsV3rnMmgoumgR2vpjJDNmVU5YABDFhQJ2c4AkXN4.png) Directions from Google Maps. Looking at that? 15 minutes and I could drive to see him. If I was desperate and had no car? Just over 3 hours and I could walk to see him. By political standards that is pretty close! ### But he doesn't lead the country Here is the thing. Our current Prime Minister is Mark Carney.... Not Brad Vis. When I vote I don't get a choice for the Prime Minister (with one small exception) however if I vote for Brad I know I'm not going to get our current Prime Minister. Brad Vis supports a Conservative leader and Mark Carney is Liberal. Here is the current breakdown just for fun. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/terganftp/23tcNnfbkMGPF93CBtinJAxd3jS9TWDvcagZ224unZ5EFZxuNkvgVCg3t6oAYyifMUk4u.png) 343 people in the House of Commons. 169 are held by Liberal MP's. That is just shy of half. Add everyone else up? 171 (3 seats are vacant) That makes things interesting. Yes Mark Carney has more support (seats) in the House than any other leader. Yes 3 seats are vacant. That leaves 340 left. If our Prime Minister tries to pass something that all the opposition hates? The opposition has 171 seats he has 169 seats. The opposition could say "not going to happen", there would be a vote of confidence and if the MP's decide to vote 171:169 again our Prime Minister is gone. Here is another thing Liberal Party members have said they support our Prime Minister Carney...but they can vote their conscience. The people's voices count and there is no "absolute power" in Canada As an aside. If the liberal party wants something. The other parties don't want something. Then that single Green party vote. If they vote with Carney its a tie and it goes to the speaker of the house. If they say no? They effectively topple the government and we get an election. **A single voice can make a huge difference**.

Prime Minister Joe Clark
Just like our current government Joe Clark didn't have a majority of seats in the government. He was voted in as Prime Minister because he had the most seats and no-one wanted another election just after having one so he got to lead the country. 6 months later a federal budget came up. His party voted for it. The opposition said NO. There is a vote of non-confidence (basically saying we don't want this Prime Minister). The King's appointee steps in and calls an election. I didn't like the fact that the person I liked didn't get to be our leader for longer than six months but I still thought about that when I heard about the government shutdown in the USA. From October 1st until November 12th, 2025 I heard about the US Government shutdown. The government couldn't agree on the federal budget so everything shut for a long time. So long that a lot of people wondered when their next paycheque was coming. It was bad. What did my brain do? It kept thinking about Joe Clark. **If you can't pass a budget, your out and we get someone new**. It isn't a perfect system and I could go on for a long time about its flaws. However, Hive Learners asked about a President we remember and what they are known for. For me that would be Joe Clark, he wasn't a President but close enough in Canada What is he known for? One of the shortest times for Prime Minister in Canada. What do I know him for? Being the person who stepped aside peacefully when he didn't have support...proof that the system works in the way intended. I think he was a good guy with good ideas but my voice and that of my MP is just one of 343 voices and obviously not everyone felt as I did :) Perhaps Lord Acton was right and that absolute power corrupts. The US founding fathers made three pillars of government to make sure no-one person holds all the power. Canada’s founders built a system based on representation by population, ensuring that local voices mattered in national decisions. Modern realities could change how power works and is used but that doesn't mean that the system passed down to us wasn't well thought out. It is kind of funny. We have a King but our actual leader is based on confidence and the true power belongs to the people. Unfortunately that means that the government is only as cohesive as the people themselves but that's the topic for a different article. As always thanks for reading, and if you made it this far for an article about foreign politics I'm really happy and a bit surprised :) Thank you and as always, I love comments :)😄

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