Canada will be 150 years old in 2017 and we can expect enthusiastic and prolonged birthday celebrations. If Canada’s military past is to loom large in such celebrations, let me suggest a battle that, in my view, played a critical role in shaping this country, and its government system. I refer to the Rebellion of 1837 in Upper and Lower Canada (what are now Ontario and Quebec). The accompanying photo is a scene from the Rebellion in front of Montgomery's Tavern in Toronto.
It was really a minor skirmish as battles go, but it led to the introduction of the fundamental elements of Canadian democracy – and that is surely something worth celebrating.
The Rebellion arose because the settlers in the then Colony of Canada had grown increasingly dissatisfied with what they saw as authoritarian government. They agitated for some voice in their government system, especially after the population swelled in the 1770s and 1780s through the influx of United Empire Loyalists who had left behind their homes and belongings in the United States out of loyalty Britain and who expected some consideration in return. In response to these demands, the British authorities provided for elected assemblies, with the first one in Upper Canada being elected in 1791. It is the forerunner of the Queen’s Park that Ontarians have come to know and love.
However, this democratic breakthrough proved to be illusory. The Governor of the colony and his hand-picked advisers (who became known as the Family Compact in Upper Canada and the Chateau Clique in Lower Canada) brazenly ignored the views and concerns of those elected to represent the population. The result was the short-lived Rebellion, which prompted the British government to appoint someone to investigate this bothersome bit of trouble in the colonies. That person was Lord Durham and his report was central to the creation of a democratic system of government in Canada. Durham recommended that the Governor and advisers (what we now known as a Cabinet) be made responsible to the Assembly. They should only stay in office as long as they had the support of a majority of the members of the Assembly. Thus was the principle of responsible government introduced.
Back to the Future: Return of the Family Compact?
To restate the nature and meaning of responsible government, as introduced following the Durham Report, is to remind ourselves of how far we have strayed from that democratic arrangement. In many ways, our current situation resembles that of the pre-Rebellion years. Those elected to represent the views and concerns of the population are largely ignored by the Prime Ministers and their advisors (Cabinets) which are supposed to be responsible to them. The current state of Canadian democracy gives us little cause for celebration as we approach our 150th birthday. Democracy is in decline and that deterioration has been accelerating in recent years.
It would be easy to blame the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper for this unfortunate state of affairs and he has certainly done his best to undermine the practice of democracy in this country. The extent to which his government has attempted to control information, suppress contrary points of view, and subjugate those elected to serve is breathtaking in its scope and audacity – even though it has not generated the public outrage that might reasonably have been expected. But even with his best efforts, Harper cannot be given all the credit for the decline in Canadian democracy. In fact, the forces undermining our democracy have been at work for close to a century and have increased over the past 50 years or so.
This is the year to begin restoration of Canadian Democracy
With a federal election in 2015, there has never been a better time for Canadians to pay more attention to their governing system and to judge all federal political parties on their commitment to the restoration of democratic practices. The downward spiral of Canadian democracy and the changes needed to restore it are the subject of my latest book Reviving Canadian Democracy.