xxii, 248 p. ; 23 cm

"Is Canada a dictatorship -- albeit a friendly dictatorship? This question may strike most readers as ridiculous. We have regular free elections, a free press, a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, no end of interest groups, and a number of ways to express dissent. Jeffrey Simpson argues, however, that the presence of partisan parliamentary debate should not obscure one fact: with the Liberal Party's re-election to a third majority government, Canada is in danger of becoming a de facto one-party state. Canada's Prime Minister now exerts more direct, unchecked power than the leader of any other parliamentary democracy, and while an effective parliamentary system presumes that at least one party is ready and capable of replacing the existing government, clearly, no party was ready in the last election. Now in paperback, with a new foreword that considers recent political developments, The Friendly Dictatorship tries to make sense of what has been happening in three areas that are vital to Canadian democracy: the parliamentary system, the political parties, and the electorate. Jeffrey Simpson delivers a message that is compelling and controversial -- a wake-up call that should be heardy by all Canadians. Book jacket."--Jacket

Includes bibliographical references

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