The illusion of participatory democracy
NationalPost.com – Full Comment
October 3, 2016. SPENCER MCKAY
A summer of seemingly endless town-hall meetings on various issues is now being capped off by the recent launch of an online consultation process on national security, cross-country hearings of the electoral reform committee, and Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef’s community dialogue tour. Canadians are being given lots of opportunities to share their thoughts with the government, but it remains to be seen if the Liberals are actually listening.
It’s not clear how the thousands of comments made by citizens across the country are supposed to condensed, summarized and incorporated into the policy-making process. Without clear criteria for how to bring the findings of these meetings together, how should citizens assess whether the process is working? The major problem with the government’s strategy is that none of these processes seem designed to actually facilitate decision-making.
Reports from electoral reform town halls note that crowds are often in favour of a new electoral system. This is unsurprising because those who want change are organized and have an incentive to attend, while those who do not care about the issue are likely to remain unengaged. The results coming from the current processes are probably not representative samples of the population.
One well-documented problem is that town halls often fail to include the marginalized voices that are regularly mentioned in the government’s rhetoric. The failure to provide translation to Inuktitut during the minister’s visit to Nunavut was a well-noted failure in this regard, but overall, older, wealthier and more educated people are more likely to engage in policy debates. A recent Ipsos poll found that despite the flurry of meetings held over the summer, only 19 per cent of Canadians know that electoral reform consultations are taking place.
It’s also not clear that the conversations being had at these events are thoughtful or informed. Consider, for instance, a town hall meeting that took place in Toronto on Aug. 16. The meeting was hosted by six local MPs and was supposed to discuss “climate change, innovation, defence and veterans affairs” within the span of 90 minutes. Trying to cram that many topics into such a short period of time does not allow participants the time needed to go in-depth on any of the issues, or to foster critical dialogue.
The single-issue electoral reform meetings are not much better. Many MPs simply do not know enough about the options for electoral reform and have enlisted academics and activists to fill the gaps, while others are left to rely on a toolkit that was widely panned upon release.
At best, the government’s zest for listening to constituents appears aimless or incompetent. While they promise participatory government, it looks more like an opportunity for the government to validate the thoughts and opinions of voters, while proceeding as it would have anyway.
Such a tactic relies on the conversational nature of the in-person meetings and the open-text answer spaces of the online consultations, which allows the government to select statements that support its position, while ignoring others. If participants feel that this has happened — if they don’t see their opinions reflected in the final decision — this might simply reinforce their distrust of elected officials.
The government’s willingness to listen is refreshing to many on the heels of a Conservative government that preferred to go it alone on major changes. When they work well, consultation processes can build trust and legitimacy for policies, but the opposite result might come about if the Liberals don’t clarify how they plan to translate what they’re hearing into what they’re going to do.
< http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/spencer-mckay-the-illusion-of-participatory-democracy >
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2016 at 10:41 am and is filed under Governance Delivery System. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
406 Responses to “The illusion of participatory democracy”
« Older Comments | Newer Comments »
Leave a Reply
Recent Comments
We can see that we need to develop policies to deal with this trend.
These stories are so important.
Most often since i look for a blog Document realize that the vast majority of blog pages happen to be amateurish. Not so,We can honestly claim for which you writen is definitely great and then your webpage rock solid.
Hello, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other than that, awesome blog!
Just came from google to your website have to say thanks.
Are grateful for this blog post, it’s tough to find good information and facts on the internet
thank, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article. I really appreciate your wonderful knowledge and the time you put into educating the rest of us.
I love what you’ve created here, this is definitely one of my favorite sites to visit.
I wanted to check up and let you know how, a great deal I cherished discovering your blog today. I might consider it an honor to work at my office and be able to utilize the tips provided on your blog and also be a part of visitors’ reviews like this. Should a position associated with guest writer become on offer at your end, make sure you let me know.
Spot on with this write-up, I truly believe this website requirements a lot much more consideration. I’ll probably be once more to read much much more, thanks for that info.
155723 785108This web internet site is often a walk-through for all of the understanding you wanted concerning this and didnt know who should. Glimpse here, and youll absolutely discover it. 683808
If most people wrote about this subject with the eloquence that you just did, I’m sure people would do much more than just read, they act. Great stuff here. Please keep it up.
Hi there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing several weeks of hard work due to no back up. Do you have any solutions to protect against hackers?
I absolutely adore your site! You aggressive me as able-bodied as all the others actuality and your broiled PS is absolutely great!
You are my inspiration , I possess few web logs and very sporadically run out from to brand 🙁
Like the way you’ve outlined things. Easy to follow. Not cluttered.
Amazing! Your site has quite a few comment posts. How did you get all of these bloggers to look at your site I’m envious! I’m still studying all about posting articles on the net. I’m going to view pages on your website to get a better understanding how to attract more people. Thank you!
I thought it was going to be some boring old post, but I’m glad I visited. I will post a link to this site on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.
I like this weblog very much so much great info .
Admiring the time and effort you put into your site and detailed info you offer!