Ottawa is top-heavy, oversized and unbalanced

The Confederation building on Parliament Hill is reflected in the windows of the Bank of Canada in Ottawa. Operation of the federal government has become too centralized in the Prime Minister's Office, a trend for several decades that reached a peak under the Trudeau government. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press

By Kevin Lynch and Jim Mitchell

The idea that “how you govern” determines your success as a government may seem like common sense, but in today’s politics the focus is on communications, message alignment, endless consultations and, above all, control. Prime Minister Mark Carney will soon learn, however, that the key to success in government is balance — governance’s equivalent to the force field in Star Wars. We’re so convinced of that, we’ve written a book