J. Patrick Boyer draws together new patterns that help explain why Canadians who care deeply about our country nevertheless feel perplexed, angered, and even embarrassed by the way we now govern ourselves.

Since the late 1700s -representative government- has been part of our Canadian birthright, and since the 1800s -responsible government- has additionally been a constitutional foundation of our country. That the forms of both endure, but not their substance, is the thesis of Boyer's book. The result? An absence of accountability in Canadian government.

Most of our...