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Voices in Public Policy Lecture Series

ABSTRACT: Canadian Prime Ministers have a special responsibility for national security, yet their functions and authorities in this domain are largely unwritten. While most ministerial authorities for national security are provided in statute, the Prime Minister’s are not. The constitutional and legal foundations of the Prime Minister’s national security responsibilities and authorities remain opaque, as a result. Indeed, those who study the Prime Minister and national security from a bureaucratic or policy perspective often take the head of government’s powers as a given, without probing into their origins and evolution. This paper aims to fill this gap. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and applying a historical institutionalist framework, this paper examines how constitutional convention, Crown prerogative, and the Prime Minister’s capacity as the head of government, have been interpreted to vest the first minister with unique functions and authorities for national security. The paper further examines how the Prime Minister’s national security responsibilities and functions operate in particular cases, such as the Cabinet committee system, the organization of the Privy Council Office, military deployments, and access to classified information.

DR. PHILLIPE LAGASSÉ is an associate professor and Barton Chair of international affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University.