Paying Down The Democratic Deficit

A growing number of Canadians are turning away from the political process. How can they be brought back into the fold?

Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen once was asked what he thought was the most important accomplishment of the 20th Century. His response was, “the rise of democracy.” Societal wellbeing, Sen argues, depends on the ability of citizens to participate in political discussions and influence public policy.

Yet looking back on the past two decades in Canada – and in much of the Western world – citizen engagement has significantly declined.

According to a new Canadian Index of Wellbeing report on democratic engagement, our country has a growing democratic deficit. The report by the Institute of Wellbeing – an independent, non-partisan Canadian network of leaders in civil society, government, and academia – shows that the disconnect between Canadians and those who govern on their behalf is deep, wide, and growing.

Canadians – especially young Canadians – are increasingly turning away from formal political institutions and activities like voting because they feel that the formal political process has turned away from them.

The symptoms of Canada’s democratic deficit can be found everywhere. Take, for example, the steady slide in electoral participation rates. In the 1988 federal election, 75 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot. In the most recent federal election, in 2008, it was just over 59 per cent – the lowest in Canadian history.

While voting may be the quintessential symbolic action of democracy, what happens between elections also matters. Here too Canada’s record is less than impressive, as a mere 2 per cent of Canadians typically volunteer for law, advocacy, or political groups.

Scanning the country, it is evident that Canadians are very dissatisfied with their democracy. The last two times they were surveyed, between 40 and 45 per cent said they were not satisfied with how democracy works in Canada. A shockingly low 12 per cent believe that federal government policies have improved their lives.

Women, who make up about 50 per cent of the population, and other demographic groups like youth, visible minorities, Aboriginal people, newcomers, and those living in poverty are being profoundly underrepresented in Parliament. Since 1997, the number of women MPs has remained at about 20 per cent of total seats. When people fail to see their own faces mirrored in their political institutions, is it any wonder that they lose respect for those institutions?

Not surprisingly, Canada is seeing a growing call to action to improve its democratic processes. While forsaking a visit to the ballot box, Canadians are increasingly turning to online discussions, social networking, protests, and petitions. A recently established Facebook page concerned about Canadian governance attracted over 221,000 members in less than a month. The internet is emerging as a powerful voice for grassroots Canadians across the country.

People are sending a very loud and clear message that leadership in the 21st century must no longer be about “command and control,” but about “inform and engage.”

The movement for greater citizen engagement deserves our attention. It’s time we all started to focus our energies on re-engaging in our own democracy. The Democratic Engagement Report spotlights a number of ideas on how we can accomplish this goal. They include:

1. Creating opportunities for meaningful public engagement such as citizens’ assemblies where people have opportunities to understand and shape public policies.

2. Seeding a culture of civic engagement in government through measures such as The Cities Act in Saskatchewan and the Community Charter in B.C. – measures that entrench accountability and dialogue between government and citizens.

3. Ensuring more accountability and transparency in politics by backing up legislation like the Federal Accountability Act with tools and mechanisms for enforcement.

4. Investing in civic education. Learning how democracy works and what it does is the first step towards engagement and influence.

5. Making better use of transformational processes such as e-government and e-democracy to make voting easier, disseminate information, and engage citizens in debates.

6. Increasing diversity in politics by training and mentoring promising leaders through initiatives such as the Maytree Foundation’s DiverseCity: School4Civics.

A new century beckons with new opportunities. But it also demands new approaches. As a nation, it’s time to start renewing our democratic institutions. It’s time to embed the principles of transparency, openness, and accountability in our democratic processes. It’s time to give all Canadians a real voice in our democratic decision-making. Now more than ever – before the chasm between citizens and government becomes irreversibly wide – we must pay down our democratic deficit.