Primus inter pares ? What are the sources and limits of the Prime Minister's power? Primus inter pares… Latin phrase meaning 'first among equals' or 'first among equals'. The title was also used by Caesar Augustus to hide behind the fact that, although the Senate of Rome officially governed the Roman Republic, he in practice maintained his autocratic power as his predecessors had done. Which of these definitions should we take for Prime Minister of Canada? What are the powers of the Prime Minister? What are the limits of this power? We will see that the Prime Minister's powers derive from the Constitution, from appointments, from the power to call elections. We will also look at the powers that reside in the cabinet system. We will then try to examine some of the limits of this power and describe how some of these limits can actually be erased or reversed. Constitution When you look at the Canadian Constitution, there appears to be no mention of the prime minister except in section 49 of the 1982 Act which talks about a constitutional conference to be held by the Prime Minister with the presidents of the provinces to discuss changes to the constitution. (White 1998, p.313) But if you look more closely at the 1867 Act, or if you read between the lines, you can see in the first paragraphs that it mentions “a Constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom" ( White 1998, p.277) This, together with sections 11 to 14, indirectly means that Canada will have a Westminster parliamentary system and that Canada will adopt a system with a Prime Minister, a Cabinet and a Privy Council he already had many years of experience on what the prime minister of...... middle of paper ......and, Jean Chrétien. Montreal: Lanctot Editeur, 2002.Levine, Allan Gerald Melee Wars: prime ministers and the media. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1993. Massicotte, Louis. "L'annonce de Jean Chrétien - La démission forcée d'un premier ministre, les précédents." from downtown. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.—. Energy: Where Is It? Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010. Simpson, Jeffrey. The friendly dictatorship. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2001. Spector, Norman. "Jean Chrétien also made the extension." The Globe and Mail, January 9, 2010. Thomas, Paul G. “Governing from the Center: Reconceptualizing the Role of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.” Policy Options, December 2003-January 2004: 79-85.White, Walter. Introduction to Canadian Politics and Government 7th Edition. Toronto: Harcourt Brace, 1998.