Yes Minister

Have you ever wondered who holds the real power in government? We are led to believe that it is the elected officials but is this really the case? In the Social Studies 11 course I teach, one of the topics in the curriculum is government. Within the government unit I discuss with the students the role of the Cabinet and Cabinet Ministers. In Canada, the Cabinet Minister is appointed to his department by the Prime Minister. However, under responsible government the Prime Minister is expected to choose his ministers from those who have been elected into the House of Commons. Occasionally, they appoint a non-elected Senator but that is definitely not the norm. So what you end up with in most cases, is an elected official who is responsible to the voters at the head of each government department. It all sounds so democratic. But is it really?

When dealing with this topic I also introduce the students to the role of the Deputy Minister. He is not an elected official, but is a civil servant in the bureaucracy who has likely, because of his or her talents, risen to the top of the department. Having been in the department for years, likely even under different governments and Cabinet Ministers, the Deputy Minister would have a much better working knowledge of the department and would therefore have considerable unofficial power. A shrewd Deputy Minister, who has been in the department for decades, could even informally exercise more power than an elected Cabinet Minister, who was just assigned to the portfolio. It’s not sounding so democratic anymore is it?

When studying to be a teacher at the University of Lethbridge in the late 1980s, my Political Science professor recommended we watch the British comedy Yes Minister, in order to better understand the relationship between a minister and his deputy.  It took me until last weekend to follow up on my professor’s recommendation.  Last week our family decided to try Netflix. We found it to work flawlessly, and at only eight dollars a month it’s hard to go wrong. On a whim I did a search for Yes Minister and was pleasantly surprised to find it. After enjoying several episodes, I must confess that, despite the typical dry exaggeration of British comedy, Yes Minister helped me better understand the relationship between a minister and his or her deputy, and I wonder who does have the real power in government.