CANADIANS WILL FOLLOW THE LEADERS WHO LISTEN
Ottawa needs to build strong relationships with regular Canadians, says Robin Prest.
If Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's recent fall economic statement proves one thing, it's that events move quickly during COVID-19, where months can feel like years and spending announcements can top $100 billion. It's not an exaggeration to say that government decisions over the next year will set the course for an entire generation.
Whether focused on keeping Canadians safe, tax reform, or building back better, the actions of our federal and provincial governments raise important questions about democracy. What is the role of Canadians in shaping decisions of this magnitude? Is citizen input even possible during a public health emergency?
Canadians had doubts about their ability to influence government long before the current crisis. These feelings aren't specific to any political party, but reflect a long-standing worry by citizens that their needs are easily forgotten in the halls of power.
Freeland tackles this issue herself in a 2013 TED Talk, where she describes how “crony capitalists” use their size and influence to game the system and shape the rules in their favour.
Governments were able to sidestep this sense of democratic disconnect during their initial response to COVID-19, when Canadians rallied around their elected leaders. As bad as things were, we only need to look to our southern neighbours to see how much worse they could have been. Today, public satisfaction with how governments in Canada have responded remains mostly intact even as we face a second wave of infections.
The challenge now is to sustain public confidence into the long emergency. What began eight months ago as a frenzy, marked by toilet paper flying from store shelves, has now shifted to fatigue. Every cough in public is a source of anxiety. Every child sent to school, an act of faith.
We speak brave words that we're all in this together, but this isn't, strictly speaking, true. Our youth face twice the mental health impacts of the general population. Racialized communities experience disproportionate infection rates, lost income and targeted violence. Small-business owners watch years of hard work undone and front-line workers add COVID-19 exposure to a growing list of frustrations with the gig economy.
The take-charge style of leadership required at the start of this pandemic is different from the approach that will see us through the coming year. Governments need to establish stronger relationships with impacted communities to understand their experiences and sustain public confidence.
For those who are skeptical that regular Canadians have something to offer the political process, let us pause and take stock of what those Canadians have achieved during the pandemic. We are a nation where Black female chefs in Toronto organized to provide thousands of Thanksgiving meals for local shelters. We are a country where volunteers in B.C. shared phone calls and offered support to more than 15,000 seniors isolated by the pandemic. We are a place where youth in Saskatchewan delivered groceries and medicine to those who couldn't leave home.
Imagine if we were to look to these same community networks to inform Canada's response and recovery — not to drag our communities down to the level of politics, but to elevate politics to the higher ideals of togetherness, dialogue and curiosity.
A vibrant democracy would also engage Canadians on the big questions about who we want to be together. Questions about safety standards in the homes that care for our parents and grandparents. Questions about the disproportionate economic impacts carried by women, and the opportunities that have evaporated away from hardworking young people. Questions about how resilient we are in the face of disasters, including human-caused disasters such as climate change.
As noted by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), there has been an exponential rise in countries adopting deliberative democracy strategies that allow citizens to learn about the issues, hear the perspectives of others, and propose meaningful solutions in the best interests of the community.
In New York state and Phoenix, Ariz., students learn about democracy by designing and voting on projects that make their communities better. In France and the U.K., national legislatures commissioned citizens' assemblies to advise them on climate change.
During the pandemic, Simon Fraser University and City Hive have held lunch-hour virtual gatherings that allowed government witnesses to hear on-the-ground stories from the residents they serve, on topics including public transit, the opioid crisis and caring for the elderly. The city of Bristol, in the U.K., and an independent project in Oregon have taken this idea even further, bringing together cohorts of representative citizens to create recommendations for the COVID-19 recovery.
Clearly, democracy has evolved since Canada's Parliament buildings were completed in 1866.
Bringing public voices into decision-making reinforces the role of elected officials as leaders who seek to understand the perspectives of their constituents and build consensus. Better yet, this type of active listening provides a positive alternative to the type of partisan sniping we have come to expect from our legislatures.
Public health officials know that authentic relationships, listening and responsiveness are key to supporting public confidence in vaccines. It should come as no surprise that similar principles can help to reduce public cynicism in elected officials and improve the ability of governments to find solutions that provide the best value for money.
Good for the people. Good for the bottom line. What's not to like for a finance minister?
We speak brave words that we're all in this together, but this isn't, strictly speaking, true.
Robin Prest is program director at Simon Fraser University's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, where he strengthens the democratic process through effective public engagement.