We have taken the first critical step, by voting to replace what has arguably been the most anti-democratic government in the history of this country. The widespread abuses by the Harper Government have been well documented and it was difficult to imagine any revival of Canadian democracy as long as the Conservatives remained in power. In electing a Liberal Government, we have chosen a political party that included in its campaign platform a pledge of democratic reform.
So far, so good. But experience tells us that once a political party takes power it finds it very convenient to use the power that has been centralized around the Prime Minister and his staff (in the PMO) to push through the new government’s agenda. There is no better example of this phenomenon than Stephen Harper himself. He first came to Ottawa as a member of the Reform Party, a party dedicated to opening up government and freeing up MPs to represent the views and concerns of their constituents. Once in power, however, he presided over the most centralized regime in Canadian history.
We have reason to expect better from Justin Trudeau, but wishing won’t make it so. We need to monitor the actions of the new Liberal Government very closely. We need to make it clear that we expect the party to follow through on the democratic reforms that it promised. These include less secrecy in government, cleaning up the election process and banning the use of tax dollars for partisan ads, returning to evidence-based decision-making, and strengthening the role of MPs.
Democratic Reform needs to be a priority
There are, of course, a number of other government priorities and, indeed, some of these loom larger in the minds of most Canadians. They will be watching – among other matters - to see how the government deals with economic issues, whether its policies (including an increase in infrastructure spending) help to stimulate growth and jobs, how it handles itself on the international stage and how it begins a long-overdue response to the challenge of climate change. All of these matters are important but they must not be allowed to obscure the issue of democratic reform. Canadians have been far too complacent about their democracy and it is that inattention that allowed Harper to go as far as he did in undermining our system of government and our individual rights. Ongoing public pressure is needed to ensure that the new government follows through on its promise to reverse that dangerous trend.