Losing Confidence: Power, Politics And The Crisis In Canadian Democracy

Elizabeth May exposes some of the discrepancies of other infected democratic system. In the most recent election we had our lowest voter turnout ever with just around 60% of Canadians showing up at the polling stations. May attributes this to many different things. One reason being the slanderous ads that have replaced campaign ads, many politicians are no longer putting forth a platform; they instead make ads to discourage the population from voting for their opposition. May also advocates that we are in desperate need of electoral reform, suggesting that we scrap our current first-past-the-post voting system in exchange for proportional representation.
This book expresses that politicians need to take some time and think about the important issues to Canadians and the world, and put aside their partisan politics. Many politicians along with the media have lost sight of the importance and position that fair media plays in helping Canadians decide what their real issues are. Politicians have forgotten that their jobs are to help citizens and advocate on behalf of these citizens to ensure that Canada is a fair and good place to live. Much of the respect that used to be exercised in the House of Commons is now lost. Politicians are attacking each other no longer on an issue-based argument but on a personal level in public area.
These are just a feel of the issues that Elizabeth feels have promoted Canadians to lose confidence and respect for their government. Thus causing low voter turnouts and diminishing our democracy. She suggests that we should fight to fix these problems because if we don't, who will?

With her latest announcement that she will run in the Saanich district in the next federal election, I decided to pick up Elizabeth May's book to read what some of her thoughts are. "Losing Confidence" is a good polemic on Canada's Parliamentary democracy but it is her selection and omission of cases she presents which reveals her political bias, which is most unfortunate because the issues she raises are spot on.

The issues May raises are important ones in the discourse of democracy in Canada and what reforms need to take place: The anemic devolution of Parliament, the dangerous expansion of the PMO; the concentration of the media, the lack of transparency of the RCMP; and the Americanization of electoral politics. I agree with all of them, but not in the way May presents them.

Part of the hypocrisy of May's arguments lie in the fact that May herself is guilty of participating in the self-interested machinations of partisan politics and lust for power. After all, implicit with any Liberal party government in power is the side-deal which will put May into the portfolio as Environment Minister, elected or not.

May's Liberal Party bias is none the more evident than in her discussion over the excessive abuses of power by the PMO and unaccountability of the RCMP. May focuses an exorbitant amount of time on Harper and the 2006 income tax leakage. She doesn't once mention the 1997 APEC summit when the RCMP, by direct orders of Chretien and the PMO, pepper-sprayed peaceful protesters on Suharto's motorcade route.

Furthermore, because of the unfair distribution of ridings slanted towards Ontario and Quebec, the Liberal party is the only party in the current system with the possibility of winning a majority government themselves without a coalition partner. Again, something May neglects to mention because of her political bias towards the Liberals.

Finally, while May is correct in bringing up the issue of media concentration, May fails to address whatsoever the impact of and the explosion of the Internet as becoming the primary medium with which Canadians now engage with for political discourse, thereby cutting out traditional media altogether.

This book raises some very important issues with what is wrong with democracy in Canada today. However, because May has chosen to slant her polemic so far to the side of the Liberals, her arguments must be taken with a grain of salt.