Discussion

What Kind of Democracy?

The ongoing crisis gripping Canada's parliamentary system is prompting people to think about the nature of the democracy that exists in Canada. Various calls have been issued for reform of the system, ranging from various forms of proportional representation to direct democracy, whereby all major decisions are made through referendum.

Inspired by the example of Porto Allegro in Brazil, there is an increasing tendency to counterpose that form of participatory democracy to the system of representative democracy that supposedly exists in Canada. However, the posing of the contradiction as being between participatory democracy and representative democracy serves only to mystify what is going on, both in Canada and Brazil.

With the exception of very small communities, direct democracy in which everyone votes on decisions is largely unfeasible. Quite apart from the fact that national referendums are expensive and cumbersome, merely enabling the entire populace to vote on a question does not ensure that control of the process is in their hands. We have witnessed many examples in the past year alone of how the creation of hysteria among a population can convince people to voluntarily relinquish their rights and freedoms to a ruling elite.

Far more important to democracy than voting is the discussion which precedes the vote. An informed population will make informed decisions in a referendum. But an informed population will also ensure that those it elects in a representative democracy make informed decisions.

The issue really is not that there is a problem with representative democracy per se, but that there is a problem with Canada's specific system of representative democracy, namely that it is not representative of the general populace. Instead, just as was the case when it was established a century and a half ago, it is representative only of the economic elite - those who possess vast amounts of wealth and property. The recent corruption scandals in the Chretien government demonstrate how governments are used to divert billions of dollars to the rich, while the workers, farmers, the unemployed and the homeless are told that there is no money in the budget to satisfy their needs.

The problem is how to involve ordinary Canadians in matters of politics and governance. At present the entire electoral and political system in Canada is designed to discourage ordinary people from getting involved. It requires huge amounts of money and the endorsement of a "major" political party, as well as the mass media, to get elected to parliament and, once there, an elected representative is forced to vote according to party discipline, rather than according to conscience. So, even though the right to be elected is a constitutional right of every adult Canadian, at least 98 percent of Canadians have no practical way to exercise that right.

What this means is that for representative democracy to work in Canada, the present electoral system must be abolished and replaced by one which permits the vast majority of Canadians to not only vote, but to also be elected. But even if such a system is adopted, only half of the problem will be solved. Allowing citizens to participate fully in the governance of their country does not ensure that they will actually do so.

This is the role of participatory democracy, to involve ordinary people in the day-to-day governance of their society. It is the method by which ordinary people can become informed about issues affecting their lives and can be trained in the art of politics and governance. It involves organizing people at every level of society to discuss problems, propose solutions and implement decisions. Seen in this light, participatory democracy does not stand in opposition to representative democracy. Rather, it is a necessity without which representative democracy cannot function properly. Conversely, without a well-designed system of representative democracy, participatory democracy cannot work either.

The problem in Canada is that our electoral and political system is neither representative, nor does it permit mass participation. While in a formal sense Canada has "free" elections and various "democratic" institutions, without that content it is merely an empty shell and cannot be called a democracy in any meaningful sense of the word.