Canada's political regime is centred on the existence of a federal system of government within the institutions of Westminster parliamentary democracy. This system places a great deal of political power in the hands of cabinet ministers, and while cabinet systems of government in Canada have evolved at different speeds in different federal and provincial governments, they have, over the last two decades, increased centralization of administrative and legislative control in ever fewer hands.

This shift has been well demonstrated by scholars such as Donald J. Savoie regarding the federal...