Usurping the Democratic Process

Inch by inch, the Conservatives solidify their commitment to rule rather than govern.

Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses ...

For all the questioning of how tent cities across the country interfere with the free activities of ordinary folk, few Canadians seem concerned that the space usually reserved for parliamentary democracy in this country has been occupied by the Tory government. When protesters won’t budge, the cops are called in. But when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and company won’t move an inch from their ideologically based encampment in the House of Commons, it appears nothing can be done.

The parliamentary system works because politicians are accountable not just to interest groups that support them, but to all citizens. If you win a majority, you have the right to govern, not to rule. The Conservatives, however, are all about ruling, and too many Canadians are turning a blind eye.

When you rule rather than govern, it’s easy to dismiss – as Peter MacKay has – questions about your party’s fighter-jet purchase as “chatter and noise.” When you rule rather than govern, it’s no problem to insist that fines levied for election overspending prove the innocence of Tory senators. When you rule rather than govern, you can wrap yourself in the flag while clawing back pensions of veterans receiving disability benefits. When you rule rather than govern, you can throw out long-gun registry records because you want to prevent other jurisdictions from starting their own registries. When you rule rather than govern, you can dump climate-change concerns into oil sands tailing ponds. When you rule rather than govern, you can close down debate because you are not interested in the views of anyone outside your encampment.

Not enough Canadians care about these issues – in part because the mainstream media on which they rely for information merely report on such unilateral actions, rarely considering their implications comprehensively or excoriating those responsible for usurping the democratic process.

The recent forced end to the discussion of the Tories’ omnibus crime bill in the House of Commons should have garnered a wide range of commentary and analysis. Instead, the national media paid scant attention to this issue (the widely read Saturday edition of The Globe and Mail, for instance, had nothing at all on the subject the weekend following the event), and focused, instead, on criticizing the Occupy movement and insisting that democracy is alive and well in Canada. Meanwhile, tabloid-style stories form the backbone of national television news programs every night, despite what is happening in Ottawa. When the capitol is glimpsed, any journalistic expertise is packaged in sound bytes so brief that they barely impact on the consciousness of viewing audiences.

You can criticize the Occupy movement all you like, but at least those involved are trying to do something, rather than ignoring the world gone wrong around them. Unlike far too many of their fellow citizens, they are not hiding comfortably behind democratic benefits, but are instead insisting that such benefits must be expanded and then protected. They may need to change their tactics, but they remain the exception to the Harper rule.

Photo courtesy of Reuters.