Irresponsible Government

There are few things as uninteresting as the story of the rise of responsible government in Canada in the 1800s and the subsequent confederation of the provinces into the Dominion of Canada. It was independence by subcommittee. It was what happens when your founding fathers are technocrats. But as dry and colourless the story is, the foundation that was put in place created one of the finest democracies in history. For almost a century and a half, Canada's government has been a testament to how the Westminster system, modified for local conditions, can mediate between the various forces and interests that shape and emerge from civil society.

At the root of that system was the notion of responsibility - institutional responsibility, ministerial responsibility and individual responsibility. Whether it is the vicissitudes of politics, the tactical realities of a minority government or the personal bent of the party leaders that notion of responsibility seems to be eroding.

The Liberal Focus on Harper's Contempt for Democracy

“There he goes again with this word ‘bickering.’ This is a debate, Mr. Harper. This is a democracy...You keep talking about Parliament as if it’s this little debating society that’s a pesky interference in your rule of the country. It’s not.”

Michael Ignatieff, Leaders' debate, April 12, 2011.

Ignatieff kept returning to this theme of democracy in the debate. Even when asked about Canadian foreign policy, he returned to hammer the idea that Canada cannot advance its values abroad when democracy was being undermined at home. What was he on about, anyway? It is hard to pitch the importance of democracy the way you can tax cuts and raising the employment rates. But it is so much more important. Ignatieff is on to something crucial here, and it is vital that Canadians not miss it.

The issue is political accountability and the realization of deliberative democracy. Which simply means that government in a democracy is supposed to be accountable to the people, and decisions are supposed to made through a process in which the people are able to meaningfully participate. One of the great strengths of democracy rests on the twin ideas that decisions will be better, and will enjoy wider and more enduring support from the public, precisely because they are made through a process of debate and deliberation in which the people play a meaningful role.