Canadian democracy is broken. Who is going to fix it?

Subtitle: My best advice for Michael Ignatieff

Canadian democracy has been on a steady decline long before this recent incident involving Stephen Harper’s refusal to release the truth to Canadians about the possible torture of Afghan detainees. This is but the latest example of Canadian politicians using the power of their office to deny Canadians their basic democratic rights as voting citizens.

The real question is who is going to fix it?

All we have witnessed in the past, in situations similar to this, are politicians who position themselves to exploit these circumstances for their own political advantage, rather than correct them, only to constrain their power in office?

This is exactly what happened in the 2006 election in the aftermath of the Liberal Sponsorship Scandal. Seeking an opportunity to exploit, rather than correct, Stephen Harper wrapped himself in a holier than thou robe, and proclaimed that if elected he would usher in a whole new era of government accountability and transparency. It worked. Harper rode that wave of self righteousness right into office.. He even went so far as to pass legislation known as the Accountability Act, which was only meant to placate the voting public with the false aura of a new regime of greater accountability, but has provided nothing of the sort at the point where the tire actually hits the road.

What “Accountability Act” would allow a government to constantly hide behind blacked out documents, be it in the case of income trusts and “proof” of alleged tax leakage or knowing the truth about the conditions that were faced by Afghan detainees? Whose idea of accountability is that? Government accountability under the Harper government is at its lowest level ever, as witnessed by a multitude of things, too numerous to mention. Meanwhile Harper has rendered the civil servants more emasculated than ever, each fearing that they will become the next Linda Keen or Richard Colvin if they dare do their job properly and as called upon.

So the real question is who is going to fix it?

My greatest concern is that the opposing political parties will exploit the circumstances and the fall out of this Afghan detainee matter, as the means for their own political ascension and then do nothing thereafter to usher in the fundamental reforms that are required to restore democracy to Canada and its citizens.

What assurances are there that a Liberal government under Michael Ignatieff believes in democracy any more than Stephen Harper himself? I have no such evidence, do you? Rather than relying on wishful thinking, let’s call a spade a spade. For example, Michael Ignatieff was not elected as leader of the Liberal Party, but rather was anointed. The President of the Liberal Party, Alf Apps, was not elected as the President of the Liberal Party, but was acclaimed the President of the Party, after the other candidates on the ballot were strong-armed into dropping out in favour of Ignatieff’s “guy”. Does this sound like a party that has a fundamental belief in the underpinnings of a true democratic process, or a party that will happily bend those rules, as suits the purposes of the moment?

Therefore, it would be wrong for Canadians to blithely assume that the election of a Liberal party would lead to an outcome concerning democracy, that is any better than which exists under Stephen Harper today. I am no Pollyanna, are you?

What we need as Canadians is fundamental reform concerning the re-establishment and enforcement of the institution of democracies in this country. Things like the establishment of a Parliamentary Budget Officer with the powers and resources to match the Government Accounting Office in the US. The obligatory calling of public hearings and public consultation whenever new tax measures are being considered that place citizens on an equal footing with paid lobbyists. The full release of public documents in real time to citizens who request them, except in the most extreme cases of true National Emergency, where such invocations of National Security could be challenged by citizens in court under a process similar to the Court Challenges program. I do not profess to know all the measures that would need to be undertaken in this country to restore Canada to the democracy that many think that it is, but that it clearly is not. But I do know that such fundamental reform is urgently needed will not occur through a process as simple and unreliable as voting a new party into office. That is as unlikely an outcome as winning the lottery.

If political parties want to exploit the electorate’s concern of the day about the need for a democracy with real teeth and real checks and balances on the abuse of power and privilege, then they are going to have to do something a lot more convincing than simply saying “I am not Stephen Harper”, and thinking they can assume power through the process of default. Nor will it be acceptable to simply promise to usher in a new era of accountability, as Harper did in the after-math of the Sponsorship Scandal. We’ve seen that movie before and it had a very bad ending. Promises amount to nothing.

We need fundamental democratic reform in this country and the re-establishment of the institutions of democracy. If politicians in this country want my vote and the vote of millions upon millions of like minded Canadians across this country, then they are going to have to come up with something better than what we have seen to date and show some real back bone and conviction. The prize will no longer go to politicians that proclaims the greatest outrage, but rather to the one who firmly commits to fundamental democratic reform on terms previously defined and in a fully binding fashion.

As for Michael Ignatieff, this upcoming Liberal gathering in Montreal in the new year, of what Ignatieff calls the “best and brightest minds in the country’ (whatever that means?), provides the perfect forum for hashing out precisely what needs to be done in order to re-establish true democracy in Canada. Everything else is secondary in importance to that. The best advice I can give the Liberals. is to wipe the slate clean on the planned agenda for that gathering, and focus on the single most important issue of the day, namely democracy.

Ignatieff should tell Canadians that he wants to be the leader of a true democracy, rather than merely the Prime Minister of Canada, like those before him, by campaigning on a binding set of democratic reforms, decided upon through major public input.