Problems with Democracy in Canada: In Need of a Cure

Canada’s democracy is sick: there is cynicism, resentment, mistrust, and apathy.

There are problems with democracy in Canada: she’s in need of a cure.

As an emergency room physician, I identify the problems with democracy in Canada. I believe that democracy in Canada needs to be resuscitated and rejuvenated.

Why does democracy need to be resuscitated and rejuvenated?

Voters don’t have a meaningful way to share and assert their thoughts and opinions beyond the basic X on a ballot at election time.

Recently, I did a statistical analysis in my emergency room work.

On average, I see a new patient every fifteen to twenty minutes.

In even less time today, we can together review, assess, and prescribe treatments for our delightfully aged patient “Federal Democracy.”

So here’s Federal Democracy’s medical review as I see it:

Address: Canada
Birthdate: July 1, 1867
At triage, everyone agrees that Federal Democracy is depressed. She has lost her sunny ways. She is burdened with apathy and no longer vibrant.
On history of present illness, she feels mistreated by the few select people who run political parties and take advantage of her for their own gain.
Repeated Prime Ministers and their inner circles over the last few decades have slowly made it so almost all the members of her parliament (MPs) have lost their meaning and purpose.
She has become hard of hearing: the only voice that can be heard is the Prime Minister’s Office.
She is bloated with a slow-moving and heavy bureaucracy.
She has delusions: she keeps telling herself how well she’s doing.

And her medications…always the same ones: The Red Pills or The Blue Pills. In this case, the red pills stand for the Liberal party and the blue pills stand for the Conservative party and the truth is that neither pill type makes any difference.

Here is Federal Democracy’s physical examination as I see it:

She has a House of Commons with 338 MPs, one for approximately every 110,000 people.
She has a Senate – but just as the appendix might not be entirely useful, the Senate might not be either.
The Prime Minister’s office is huge – way too big! (The Prime Minister appoints everyone in the Senate. The Prime Minister hands out cabinet appointments in excessive numbers. The Prime Minister’s office sets all the policy. The Prime Minister makes sure to fire anyone who disagrees with him or dares to speak up. “Hello, Jane (Philpott), how’s Jody doing?” (Wilson-Raybould).

Big problem alert: when cohorts of those 338 MPs are surveyed, they admit their job is ineffective because they’ve been trained to follow the leader blindly; whoever leads their party tells everyone else what to think and how to vote.

So how are we gonna fix problems with democracy in Canada?

In medicine, one of the most powerful tools for treating depression is cognitive behavioural
therapy…..changing your thoughts and shaking off distortions to change your actions/moods.

We need to change our thoughts and shake off distortions for Federal Democracy.

Bring her to the therapist’s chair.

What’s the goal of democracy?
What do you need to make it happen?
What’s getting in your way?

My first thought for treatment: your Member of Parliament should represent you, not the Prime Minister and not the Party.

This is a foundational principle for Federal Democracy.

Elect an MP free of party shackles: have them vote on behalf of the riding, not on behalf of a party leader.

So that MPs will act as if they matter.

When MPs act as if they matter we can get back to engaging and representing.

We have to believe MPs matter.

My second thought for treatment: we have to use the latest information technology to crowdsource democracy.

**We need to enable periodic in-between election direction updates so we can clarify the voters’ priorities and preferences so everyone can see the results on a feedback loop.**

Then the MP can take those priorities and get busy on behalf of the voters.

My third thought is that Federal Democracy has to exercise her democratic muscles more regularly.

To truly rejuvenate democracy means to restore it to its original or new: democracy needs to be rejuvenated.

But you might think these treatments aren’t necessary because of these commonly misunderstood democratic diagnostic myths:

A. Everyone should just join a political party and get involved.

Lots of people like me have tried this approach to no real effect.

Anyone can buy a membership and then they can vote for a leader, but that’s like electing a monarch to full rule and absolute power.

Once the leader is chosen, then what? The hyper-engaged partisans will circle the leader and you won’t see any more of your influence.

B. Isn’t the problem just the media?

A troubling concept that the media and elites have normalized is the notion that every member of a political party does what the leader says or is kicked out of the party.

This is only the norm because we go along with the notion.

C. What if the fringe actors take over?

This only happens if everyone else falls asleep and does nothing

The message is simple: get engaged and do it now.

Absolute power leads to absolute corruption.

When we don’t include people but shun them — they rebel. Freezing people out of decision-making leads to resentment and cynicism.

Instead, we need to listen, empathize, show respect, and collaborate.

My prescription for problems with democracy in Canada:

Avoid talking around or over people, ASK the people.
Engage with a spirit of problem-solving and leave blind ideology behind.
Maintain transparency and create accountability.
Decentralize power: bring the power back to the people!