Provincial rivals come together to fight for democracy’s health

A sight never before beheld: Ontario’s rival party leaders coming together on campus — talking not only to students, but talking to each other. Thoughtfully, civilly, collegially. Despite a tense pre-election environment, and the temptation to boost their own political causes, they brainstormed on a shared public cause — electoral engagement. Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and opposition leaders Vic Fedeli (PC), Andrea Horwath (NDP) and Mike Schreiner (Greens) united just this once for the Ryerson Democracy Forum, trying to grapple with the worsening democratic deficit in a province with the worst voting record in Canada. Few Ontarians realize just how few of us actually vote to elect a provincial government that wields power over almost everything that matters in our lives — from education funding to hospital care, hydro rates, policing, road building and taxation. Barely half of the electorate cast a ballot in Ontario’s last election. That’s a humbling vote of non-confidence for all politicians, not least the winner of the last election. “All of us are in this together, and so as politicians we need to do everything we can to engage people — that means things like this (forum),” Wynne told students and a television audience following CP24’s live coverage or via thestar.com (see the forum for yourself — highlights and the full event remain online). The unexpected ceasefire at Ryerson — a conversation of rivals — offered rare grounds for optimism over the puzzle of how to re-engineer engagement. A good start is changing the tone that turns off voters — who then tune out and don’t turn up. As moderator, on behalf of Ryerson’s Faculty of Arts, I marvelled at the outbreak of civility, however temporary.

And wondered why it couldn’t be prolonged beyond an hour: “Why can’t you be like this all the time?” The NDP’s Horwath argued, understandably, that politicians need to hold one another to account: “I think people become more cynical about politics when ... promises don’t get fulfilled and then folks say, ‘Well, why do I even bother to vote?’” Wynne countered with a hockey analogy, recalling when the old Philadelphia Flyers “put a goon on the ice ... people are waiting for the fight — the media, with all due respect, likes the fight.” Schreiner noted that the Green Party “has a vested interest in voter turnout going up” because they always do worse when turnout falls. “Who do we blame for disengagement? I think the media, politicians, and the way we conduct politics has to share in some of the blame.” The politicians compared notes on competing for votes among new Canadians. Given that many come from countries where people die for democracy, why is their turnout so much lower? Fedeli’s Tories have made undeniable gains with outreach in recent years: “I think what you’ve seen Andrea do, and the premier and Mike as well and other parties ... you see us at the (Sikh) gurdwaras, you see us at the Vietnamese Tet celebrations,” he mused. “We’re trying to build trust, and I think that’s what all parties are doing equally well.” Schreiner won cheers for saying we should give 16-year-olds the vote, given that they’ve just studied civics classes in high school. Answering audience questions later, top strategists from each party acknowledged that reaching young voters can be vexing: “The parties that are able to unlock that not only will be doing good for themselves electorally, but they’ll be doing good for the province,” Fedeli’s PC chief of staff, Alykhan Velshi, told one student. The leaders covered a lot of ground — and broke new ground merely by sharing the same turf. They are all in this together — as are we in the media. Collectively, we — and half the electorate — are failing miserably on democracy.