For decades, Canadian journalists and political scientists have repeated a familiar story: once upon a time, power in Ottawa was dispersed, much of it resting in Parliament, until successive prime ministers centralized authority in their office, diminishing democracy in the process.

It is a tidy narrative—but it does not stand up to scrutiny.

Over the last five years, our group of 21 experts — historians, political scientists, and former political staffers — examined the evolution of cabinet government in Canada. What we found challenges the conventional wisdom.

Every Canadian prime minister since 1867 has been the central figure in Canadian government and politics. John A. Macdonald selected ministers and deputy ministers, controlled the cabinet agenda, and made the key decisions when ministers hesitated. When he disagreed with his finance minister, the cabinet did not vote on competing policies. Macdonald had his way, and the minister resigned. Every prime minister has followed suit. To proceed only by consensus, then or now, is not to govern at all.

The focus on centralization overlooks the very real constraints on a prime minister’s power. For example, the prime minister has the power to hire and........

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