Is democracy dying? And is the problem clearly visible here in Cape Breton? Find out more from Tom Urbaniak.

Roots of the problem are visible in Cape Breton

I am worried about our democracy.

Empty slogans are taking the place of the hard slogging of governance. Blaming scapegoats is replacing work on public policy.

Although this conjures up images of Donald Trump’s fearful and angry America, we’re seeing signs of it close to home. In this populist world, the sentences are short and the words are mean.

On June 7 in Ontario, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives (slogan: “For the People”) secured 40.5 per cent of the votes and a majority of seats in the legislature. They did it without much of a platform and no clue about how to pay the bills. They promised big tax cuts. They promised to go back to the previous version of sex education in schools. They even touted beer for a buck.

In our ailing democracy, deliberation and research are dismissed as a luxury. Nova Scotia eliminated an entire order of government - elected school boards - after just one day of public hearings.

We’ve stopped raising an eyebrow when federal and provincial omnibus bills are quickly rammed through the assemblies, altering dozens of laws in one swoop and with little explanation.

Even when bills amend only one law at a time, politicians often don’t read or understand what they are asked to pass.

Here’s a recent example that I studied. Last October, Anthony Mancini, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Halifax, asked the province’s House of Assembly to pass a bill drafted by his lawyers (Bill 30). It would have made sure that no parish could challenge the archbishop’s decisions over parish property and personnel. It would also give the archbishop new civil powers that only government officials now have.

This bill was passed unanimously at second reading after less than a minute of debate. Fortunately, a few concerned Catholics realized what was going on and alerted the MLAs. The bill is now resting in committee, where it will likely die.

This example of trying to concentrate power in one man is part of a larger pattern: We are losing the ability to govern ourselves and confront the problems of our time.

What is going on?

Many of our communities are no longer democratic incubators, and it’s having a ripple effect on larger institutions.

I learned a lot on the recent “Jane’s Walk” in the New Aberdeen neighbourhood of Glace Bay. It was hosted by Warden United Church (full disclosure: my wife, Alison Etter, is the minister at Warden and Knox) and open to everyone, residents and visitors.

I was inspired by the resilience of the current residents. I was troubled too. Life could be hard in the industrial age, but New Aberdeen had a web of organizations, churches, halls, stores within walking distance, schools and gardens to help people survive. It had its own local politicians and public meetings. It had a democratic life, despite the adversity.

Most of this formal and informal democratic infrastructure is gone. It has to be rebuilt – soon.

Today, no municipal politician resides in New Aberdeen. In fact, only one councillor resides in all of Glace Bay (on the boundary), population 18,000. Until 1995, Glace Bay had its own town council and web of civic institutions.

This sort of erosion means that fewer people have political or civic experience. Without such experience, the slogans of a Doug Ford, or even a Donald Trump, might seem enticing or relieving, rather than ridiculous.

Traumatized former industrial communities are more vulnerable to this populism. In the age of coal and steel, the “bosses” divided people and promoted the notion that decisions were made somewhere else. They often didn’t want communities to be self-reliant and truly democratic. When industries left, it was hard to fill the voids. Democracy suffered further.

There is hope. I have written elsewhere about small communities that manage to organize themselves as if they are already free to determine their destiny. I call this “affirmative self-government.” I’ve observed it in some of my work with Gabarus. I’ve observed it as part of St. Mary’s Polish Parish in Whitney Pier. We have all seen it happen in Membertou. We’re seeing it now in other First Nation communities and with organizations like Glace Bay’s #bayitforward.

If Cape Breton is a partial microcosm of the decline of democracy, it can become a case study of democracy’s renaissance. But we have to believe that the boss is the collective “us.” We have to believe in the hard slogging of governance.

“Nova Scotia eliminated an entire order of government - elected school boards after just one day of public hearings.”