As we close in on the one-year mark of the global pandemic, it has become clear that there is a pervasive belief that the prime minister has super powers or rather, that he should, if he just wishes hard enough for something to happen. As it turns out, there's a term for this in the United States known as the Green Lantern Theory, stemming from the comic book character (and film of the same name, starring Canadian Ryan Reynolds) whose green ring is capable of creating green energy projections whose only limits are the wearer's willpower and imagination. The political theory, of course, is that a president can achieve any political or policy objective if he only tries hard enough or uses the right tactics. Sound familiar in our own context?
The theory, articulated by Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan, actually comes in two variants the Reagan version, and the LBJ version. In the former, if the president can only communicate well enough, the public will rally to his side; in the latter, the president only needs to try harder to win over congress to vote through his agenda. Neither of those are quite specific enough to the current Canadian context, where prime minister Justin Trudeau only needs to try hard enough to magically solve the problems facing this country.
For example, if you listen to the Conservatives, if Trudeau simply tried harder, he could make Pfizer's vaccine plant retooling happen faster, or immediately solve Moderna's supply chain issues, and we could have enough vaccine for the entire country in the blink of an eye. Or if he tried hard enough, he could force President Biden to change his mind on the Keystone XL pipeline (though the Conservatives also seem to believe that the prime minister also needs to throw more public temper tantrums, and make performative displays of screaming and crying to show the Americans, or pharmaceutical company CEOs for that matter, that he's really serious).
For the NDP, they seem to believe that if Trudeau tries hard enough and exerts more willpower, he can overcome any barrier in the constitution and override provincial jurisdiction, whether that's on rent, paid sick leave, pharmacare, dental coverage, or long-term care. It's not that it would be unconstitutional, or that it would poison the well of federalism, or that he would be declaring war on the provinces he simply doesn't care enough about those issues to exert that much willpower that his green ring will make these magical policies happen. And so on.
While Green Lantern Theory emerged in the US as part of the popular imagination that the executive is far more powerful than it actually is (structurally, it's very weak because of the way their constitution was framed), in Canada, that doesn't quite hold because our executive is far more powerful most especially if there is a majority parliament, though that isn't the current make-up of the House of Commons. Nevertheless, in the current pandemic context where all of the attention has been focused on the prime minister (to the detriment of premiers, who should be held to greater account given that they have much more responsibility for healthcare and lockdown orders), Green Lantern Theory seems to be emerging out of frustration with federalism, particularly given that we are bombarded with constant demands for Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies Act to take over areas of provincial jurisdiction.
Of course, just as Green Lantern Theory falls apart in the US once it comes into contact with the realities of their congressional system, so too does it fall apart in Canada when confronted with the fact that even though our executive is stronger, the number of levers available to the federal government are particularly limited. There is no invoking the Emergencies Act because, aside from going to war with provinces who want no part of it, we haven't even met the basic threshold in the definition in the Act of what constitutes a national emergency, which is that the urgent and critical situation endangering the lives, health or safety of Canadians "is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it." The capacity or authority of the provinces has not been exceeded. The only thing that is lacking is the political will of premiers to take the necessary actions, whether it's rent relief, paid sick leave, or instituting proper lockdowns to prevent transmission of the virus.
Because Trudeau has demonstrated a willingness to do what is necessary to get Canadians through this pandemic, and spend any amount of money, there seems to be a belief that this can somehow extend to all areas, even those outside of his jurisdiction. And to his credit, he has certainly attempted to fill gaps where they appear, such as kludging together the federal sickness benefit where provinces won't implement paid sick leave, or similarly in kludging disability benefits from what few levers he has available. But because he is bound by those few levers the federal government has at his disposal, he has raised expectations that he can do more if he simply has enough willpower, which isn't how this works. The constitution is a very real thing that prevents him from reaching into provinces' areas of jurisdiction.
The prime minister doesn't have unlimited powers, and it would be a very bad thing if he did. He is not constrained by the limits of his willpower he is constrained by a constitution and a federal structure that is one of the most decentralized in the world. Falling into Green Lantern Theory is both delusional in believing that politics works in a way that is divorced from reality, but when employed by opposition party leaders, it is also a cynical exercise in trying paint the government as being unwilling to take actions that they simply cannot do, and is making promises that these other leaders could not keep. Justin Trudeau does not have a magic green ring we need to stop pretending otherwise.
Photo Credit: The Things
