Whatever one thinks of electoral reform – and the Star has always been skeptical – it seems likely that the Trudeau government’s fumblings and reversals on the issue will, ironically, do democratic damage. Substance aside, broken promises and convoluted climb-downs are bound to feed public cynicism and distrust.
The government’s retreat from its oft-repeated vow that the 2015 federal election would be the last under our current first-past-the-post system of voting was made official this week in the prime minister’s mandate letter to Karina Gould, the new minister of democratic institutions. Gould’s ministry was ostensibly created by the Liberal government to do one thing above all: deliver electoral reform. Now that that’s off the table, what should she do to fill the time and improve our democracy?
Trudeau’s mandate letter suggests a number of steps, from the modest and modish (ensure our voting system is safe from cyber-threats), to the modest and inadequate (make cash-for-access fundraisers more transparent), to the vast and vague (work to enhance the openness of government, “including supporting a review of the Access to Information Act”). Here, humbly, we offer three more steps that Gould and her cabinet colleagues should take now to reassert the government’s commitment to strengthening our democracy.
- Don’t just make cash-for-access fundraisers more transparent; end them altogether. The mandate letter calls on Gould to ensure these events are “conducted in publicly available spaces, advertised in advance and reported on in a timely manner after the fact.” That would be something of an improvement on the opaque status quo, but it won’t do much to address the real issue.
Every time Justin Trudeau or one of his ministers hobnobs with the rich and powerful in exchange for a $1,500 contribution to the Liberal Party, the government gives the troubling impression that access is for sale. More transparency will do little to change that.
Canada has been among the leaders in eliminating corporate donations and putting strict limits on individual contributions to political parties, yet clearly there’s still important work to do to constrain money’s influence in our politics. Gould should get on it.
- Beyond changing the rules, Gould and the government can ensure that parliamentary watchdogs are better placed to enforce them. The ethics commissioner’s ongoing investigation of the prime minister, at whose pleasure she serves, is a reminder of the awkwardness of that role. Watchdogs should not be fireable by those they’re meant to hold to account.
- Fix our access-to-information laws – now. Access laws are a fundamental feature of modern democracies, allowing citizens to watch over their governments and hold them to account. Canada’s version, designed for a pre-digital world and largely unchanged for three decades, is profoundly broken.
Trudeau came to power promising reform and quickly set up a parliamentary committee to review the law. After the committee published its recommendations last summer, the government vowed to implement them by early 2017 at the latest. Five months later, it said more review was necessary. The information commissioner now says she suspects the law won’t be changed before the next election.
Trudeau already has Parliament’s advice, at least some of which is consistent with specific Liberal campaign commitments. It’s not at all clear why the government needs more process. It should immediately come forward with concrete legislative proposals and let Parliament do its work.
Our democracy cannot afford more consultations and reviews that lead nowhere.
The danger of backtracking on electoral reform is that the government may have contributed to the malaise it purportedly sought to address. Gould and the government have much work to do to reassure the many Canadians who participated in the consultations on electoral reform that they were not used as a mere smokescreen.
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