A New Political Party? How About New Voters?

Maclean's editor Andrew Coyne says our current leaders are ruining political discourse. Maybe it's not them, it's us.

In Maclean’s today, Andrew Coyne argues that what we need to save Canadian federal politics from its “death spiral” towards irrelevance is a new political party. Ours is a “moribund political culture,” he writes, “dominated by two established parties that refuse to address the real problems confronting society.” No party has proven itself willing to seriously debate major issues like fixing our broken health care system or taking meaningful action on global warming, descending instead into partisan bickering that turns off voters. Coyne envisions “a party of the centre, but of a redefined centre … drawing from left and right as appropriate, in full doses of each.” In short, the perfect political animal: serious, civilized, and unhindered by ideological dogma.

Coyne holds politicians to a high standard, which is excellent, but it’s less clear what role he feels the average Canadian has played in shaping the dismal state of current political culture. If it’s “impermissible” to seriously debate health care reform in this country, surely it’s largely due to Canadians’ unwillingness to let go of the idea of public health care as an inalienable national value. Similarly, the average voter pays little attention to Parliament, even when despite politicians’ best efforts, something interesting happens.

Case in point: a minister gets accused of lying to Parliament and laughably falsifying documents. It’s both a serious charge and comic political theatre, but half of Canadians don’t know a thing about it, much less care. Cops at the G20 remove their nametags and beat up protesters, rounding up thousands of citizens in some of the biggest, phoniest mass-arrests the country has ever seen. Questions are raised about political decisions made at every level of government that should concern Canadians across the ideological spectrum. Where is Canadians’ outrage? Where is the groundswell of popular opinion demanding an inquiry?

It would be nice if, as Coyne suggests, we had better politicians. An improvement in our politics might promote engagement, but ultimately the betterment of our democracy is impossible without renewed efforts by citizens.