I only have the one supervisor (which is the norm in Canada I believe).  I will have a committee for my comp, but the current (nearly done) student got some flack from my supervisor for "consulting too much with their committee" since my supervisor feels that you are HIS student.

My supervisor is often fine (it is almost like there are two different people in one, I really like the one side, and really hate the other).  The problem is that at times of higher stress and when say reading over some of my work (alot of math), the bad side is the most common. I would like to get a dual supervisor set up, but I don't think my current supervisor would be willing to do so (not positive).

I am 4 terms into a PhD in Engineering, and have grave concerns about my supervisor. He made life miserable for his previous student (though he still graduated), and didn't write any reference letters for him. His other student is just finishing now, and until 6 months ago, had an extremely good relationship with the supervisor. However, since that time things have seriously unraveled, starting with a paper editting process from hell, followed by barely providing any feedback on his thesis until the final chapter (a week before the deadline), where the supervisor blew up, wouldn't talk to the student for a day, and told him that he wouldn't write a reference letter because of a lack of "respect". Unfortunately, my supervisor is hard to communicate with due to impatience and getting caught up in minor details, and I am basically convinced that at some point, I will "disrespect" him as well in the course of normal communications. I have had some difficulties comminucating with my supervisor, as he is extremely impatient and getting him to see any big picture things is impossible, and see basically every complaint that my fellow student has in my interaction with him in the 4 terms so far.

Now, I was in the middle of writing my comp proposal at this time, and this gave me serious doubts about whether I should continue. I have no idea how to deal with the situation, since he will not react well to anything I have to say about these issues (and I basically feel that I have to be willing to quit before talking to him about it). If anyone has any ideas, I am all ears.