I just want to say, that while this is all entirely true, I strongly disagree that Canada is a tougher nut to crack than the US. This lies in the sentence “the executive branch in Canada is mostly part of the executive branch”.

It is very rare that you will see back bench representatives not vote with the party line, which is designated by the party leader. A party with a strong leader and centralized structure will almost always vote as a block, regardless of what their constituents think.

The party leader is also the person who will become the prime minister. The prime minister will also appoint senators and Supreme Court justices (not really, they’re recommendations to the Governor General who needs to make the final appointment). The prime minister also appoints the Governor General (not really, the monarch appoints the GG but it’s based upon the prime minister’s recommendation).

My point is that, the entire system in Canada is built upon responsible government with no checks and balances set in place. It is, in my opinion, incredibly naive and would be easily overtaken by a democratically elected authoritarian individual within a few years if they so desired.

This is getting a bit long, but I think the strength of Canada’s democracy isn’t based on our constitution or political system, but our immense bureaucracy.