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A small but growing minority of Canadians says the prime minister would be justified in closing down Parliament and the Supreme Court in the face of “very difficult times,” according to a survey.

The question about the two democratic institutions is part of the sweeping, biennial AmericasBarometer study, and Canadians were among the citizens of 26 countries surveyed for their views and attitudes about democracy and governance.

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The Canadian part of the online survey, conducted by Environics Institute and Ottawa’s Institute on Governance in the summer, recently released its results. It found 23 per cent of respondents said the prime minister would be justified in shutting down Parliament when the country is facing a crisis or “very difficult times,” and 17 per cent would accept dissolving the Supreme Court for the same reason.

The vast majority of Canadians — 77 per cent — object to the idea of the prime minister silencing Parliament, but what’s noteworthy is that the size of the minority who could accept it under dire conditions has inched up since 2010 — when only about 10 per cent said the prime minister would have grounds to govern without Parliament or the Supreme Court in “difficult times.” By 2012, that percentage was 15.