  Basic aspects of the Hamiltonian structure of the parity-violating Poincar\'e
gauge theory are studied. We found all possible primary constraints, identified
the corresponding critical parameters, and constructed the generic form of the
canonical Hamiltonian. In addition to being important in their own right, these
results offer dynamical information that is essential for a proper
understanding of the particle spectrum of the theory, calculated in the weak
field approximation around the Minkowski background.
