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Caring
Citizen —
Tell Me More
Confronting
Canada's "Democratic Deficit"
Sean Moore
The Hill Times, June 10/2002
Among the trials and tribulations of being an Ottawa lobbyist these
days -
and, let it be said, the agonies are many of late- is the
inevitability of
being asked several times a day for one’s take on what is often
termed
simply as the “Chretien-Martin thingy.” Clients, colleagues, relatives, cab drivers, barbers and eager
students all seem consumed - at least on a superficial basis - by the mystery of
it all. Replacing, at least temporarily, the usual interrogatories such as
“How about those Leafs?” or “Any plans for the summer?” the question
seems to represent less an interest in the dynamics of what led to the denouement of
June 2 and more a curious searching along the lines of
“where is all this going to end?” Who knows!?
“Trench warfare in the Liberal Party,” is a pretty safe bet. But
that
prognostication just seems to bum people out. The specter of ever
more news accounts of coast-to-coast local brawls over party
membership and
constituency executive intrigues is a guaranteed eye-glazer.
Being, for the most part, a sunny optimist, my favourite answer is:
“We may
be in for a protracted debate about some central ideas about
government.”
The standard response I get back is: “That would be nice - for a change.”
Now, the sage and serious in Ottawa - those who have long experience
in the struggle for the hearts and minds of party members and
delegates - often hold the view that leadership contests are all
about organization and
alliances. Talk of “policy” is for sissies, except to the
extent that everyone wants journalists to write about how
substantive and vision-bearing
their candidate is, how their take on Canada and the world is so
captivating
and exciting.
Acolytes of Paul Martin are preparing us for the advent of a series
of
speeches over the next few months in which the putative prime
minister will
set out his thoughts on a number of the pressing issues of our time.
The
incumbent prime minister is similarly expected to launch a torrent
of
propositions. (Where this leaves the likes of John Manley, Allan
Rock and
other would-be contenders is anybody’s guess. Their “ideas”
about the future may just be doomed to get subsumed into those of
their boss.)
So, as a service to the brain trust of one or another of the
contenders for
our political allegiance, allow me to throw one out.
Called to your attention is an interesting paper released recently
by the
Canadian Policy Research Network, entitled Mapping the Links:
Citizen
Involvement in Policy Processes. (Available at cprn.org)
“Whoa,” say the campaign strategists. “That’s way too
wonkish for us.” Well, not so fast fellas.
Authored by Carleton University public administration professor
Susan
Phillips and political scientist Michael Orsini of York
University’s Glendon
College, this is an interesting take on much of what ails government
and politics today, not just in Ottawa but, as well, in provincial
capitals and city halls across the land. It’s about the disconnect
between the governed and the governors.
Among their observations are the following:
-
MPs (and MLAs) collect useful
knowledge, but have little influence on
policy
-
Parliamentary committees are
adversarial, lack resources, rely mainly on expert opinion and
have little impact
-
Political parties are
exclusionary and limit political discourse
-
The public service relies too
much on one-way communication
-
Civil society organizations
often have limited resources to participate
fully and many are limited in their advocacy activities by
government
Professors Phillips and Orsini
offer an impressive analysis of what they,
and others, have come to term Canada’s “democratic deficit.”
Their
assessment of what’s happened to government, politics and the
policy process over the last ten years is, to this reader, an
excellent tour through the fads and fantasies, trends, forces,
failed experiments and noble efforts
which have marked the evolution of how we are governed.
Gleaning from all of this material something which can be used in
crafting a
marketable vision for Canada’s future will be an interesting
challenge for
campaign policy advisors and speech writers but it’s one which
should at
least be attempted.
And here’s an interesting place to start: Phillips and Orsini, in
explaining
what they observe as a renewed interest in citizen involvement in
policy and
government, see certain fundamental changes in the nature of
governing and in civil society. Among them is what they and other
observers have viewed as the shift from a top-down model of
government to horizontal governance which is the process of
governing by public policy networks including public, private and
voluntary sector actors. “Whereas a traditional top-down approach
emphasizes control and uniformity, horizontal governance recognizes
that governments alone may not have the capacity, knowledge or
legitimacy to solve complex public policy problems in a diverse
society. Therefore it emphasizes collaboration and co-ordination.”
There’s a theme in there somewhere which I predict will turn up
one way or
another in someone’s campaign-style speech in the months ahead.
Sean Moore is the public policy advisor with the law firm Gowling
Lafleur
Henderson LLP. He can be reached at sean.moore@gowlings.com.
Previous columns can be viewed at www.seanmoore.ca
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