Due Process versus Economic Interests

Its hard for someone blogging about democracy to ignore the recent efforts by our Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver to call into question the perfectly legitimate concerns by both Canadian citizens and environmentalists from outside of Canada about the impacts of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline by calling such people “Radicals” and how “They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest”. Much has been said across the internet since he made this statement defending those 1000s of citizens and groups who have registered to speak to this proposal some of whom we may be sure will be speaking for and on behalf of the several foreign owned oil companies who are no less a “foreign special interest group” than are some the environmentalists.

This is clearly interference in what is supposed to be an independent and unbiased environmental assessment of said proposal, that such a statement should be made before the hearing are barely underway once again show how little regard the Harper regimen has for democracy and due process.

Although it is quite obvious that an oil pipeline over the Rockies and through the pristine forests of BC and oil tankers plying the waters of BCs inner waterways would create a grave risk to one of the most beautiful and ecologically special regions in the world that is not the point here. The point is that the hearing to decide if this is something which something Canadians want, if it presents to grave a risk to proceed, if the citizens directly effected by the construction AND the possible aftermath, must be both unbiased and SEEN to be unbiased. It wont be of course, how can it be with the millions and millions of dollars profit at stake for big oil, their pockets are deep but the minister is concerned that a little 'foreign money' going to those that would oppose this project would 'undermine' the process.

Having just returned from kneecapping the process of trying to come to consensus about future efforts to reduce human impact on the environment I would not expect much from our Environment Minister Peter Kent either, he also obviously has no regard for democratic process. Did you hear of any debate in the House about withdrawing from Kyoto prior to that autonomous decision being announced, I sure did not! As for actually doing his job, encouraging debate, and enabling protection of Canadian land, air, water, flora and fauna...... don’t hold your breath!

We must be aware that Harper is not the only one who has embraced the mantra of “father knows best” and has decided that if the citizens don’t like the way he his doing things then lets not change what we are doing but change the rules so that they cannot stop the process even if they want to. The Ontario McGinty government some time ago reduced environmental hearing criteria and municipal control over any wind turbine installations in Ontario. Once again it matters not whether you support or oppose such projects being inflicted upon rural Ontario but that the affected citizens have NO SAY in where, how or if, such industrial generators should appear in their community.

We wonder when Mr Harper will make his next move and take a leaf out of Mr McGintys book and suspend or reduce such hearings for the oil industry. But wait - A report in today's Globe suggests we could soon be seeing another instance of Harper bullying and intimidation tactics. They say “The Conservative-dominated Commons finance committee is set to begin a review of the charity sector, and several activists say government MPs have told business groups that the committee will look at the environmental sector’s transparency, its advocacy role and the flow of funds from outside the country. “

Seems that they are already working on that one!

I am not the only one concerned.

“I think it’s inappropriate for a minister or a prime minister to interfere and intervene and frankly to intimidate an environmental process as it would be to interfere or intervene in a court case,”

Liberal interim leader Bob Rae

The purpose of an environmental assessment is to ask tough questions and hear the answers. Why does Mr. Oliver so strongly object to this? Do we no longer live in a democracy? Do our citizens no longer have the right to ask tough questions and express their opinions?”

Sierra Club of Canada Executive Director John Bennett

“The repeated attacks on environmental review by your government merit mention.  The federal law for environmental review was first introduced under the Mulroney government.  Your government has dealt repeated blows to the process, both through legislative changes, shoved through in the 2010 omnibus budget bill, and through budget cuts. “

Green Party leader Elizabeth May

When I started this blog 3 years ago I was 'concerned about our democracy' under the Harper regime's minority government, now I am simply scared to death of what this dictatorial and ideological oligarchy is doing to our long standing and hard won democratic processes. We can agree or disagree on any particular issue but when the processes to come to a decision are attacked, ignored or circumnavigated, be they such hearings as this or within the house of commons, then we have arrived at the point where those that have compared Harper with a dictator with a similar name may just be closer to the truth than we care to think about.

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The Real Outsiders – Disengaged Citizens.

Having finally gotten around to reading Samara's report The Real Outsiders: Politically Disengaged Views on Politics and Democracy, published late last year I will give a brief synopsis of their findings along with my reaction to their findings. In their focus groups from a variety of social economic backgrounds they compared those who considered themselves 'engaged' in politics with those who did not , not surprisingly both groups indicated frustration with both politicians in general and with government bureaucracy specifically. Most of my extracts and comments will focus upon those who feel that neither of the above are serving them well and who have thus become 'disengaged'.

Two main themes seem to run through the responses, firstly 

 

“We are too busy with our own lives.”

“nine times out of ten I just have so much other crap on my plate.”

“I have a job. I got school. I have friends. I don’t have time.”

“I don’t feel I have a role in politics”

“the best way for me [to cope] is just not to care about them.” 

This is understandable, particularly for those for whom it is a daily struggle just to keep their head above water, in an earlier post I looked at how income affected democracy, here then is yet another possibility, those struggling to make ends meet, working long hours, looking after family and so on simply don’t have the time or inclination to follow the daily shenanigans of whatever party is currently in power. The little sound bites that the spin machines produce that they catch on the news are their sole exposure to our “political system”. No wonder so many are cynical, turned off and less than knowledgeable about our democracy and its governance.

Secondly “why should I care for the system if the system doesn’t care for me?” In the

end, many expressed feelings of fatigue. They were tired of having to “fight all the time to be

heard.”

“When a problem arose that

required government assistance—be it finding

a job, securing a daycare spot, or addressing

overcrowded schools—they expected little of

their politicians and little of their government.

Importantly, when disengaged participants

experienced difficulty with the system, there

was little conceptual separation between the

role of civil servants and the role of politicians.”

Perhaps this is the most revealing part of this study, that for many folks government programs and the difficulties in obtaining answers or assistance is directly linked to the political side of things and the local MP or MPP is often viewed as the front door to such things.

For most of the people we spoke to, government

was synonymous with politics. Thus a negative

experience in accessing government services

or receiving poor service from the office of a

Member of Parliament were equally likely to

shape an individual’s negative perception of

the political system.

In theory our members of parliament are not there to guide us through the government maze but to represent us during decisions being made on our behalf in the various legislatures, in practice the complexity of ever changing government programs and the often uncaring response we get from some departments means that we NEED someone to help us through the maze. Our local MP or MPP seems to be the place of last resort in such struggles. That is not how it is supposed to work but that is how it IS working. When such effort fail is it little wonder that folks blame the politician or the system equally and are 'turned off' politics.

In a healthy democracy, the

political system will respond to the issues the

public cares about, in part because the public has

the ability to hold politicians to account for their

actions. Instead, we heard about untrustworthy

politicians and an unresponsive bureaucracy.

Earlier reports from Samara showed that even many politicians were unsure of their role in our democracy, are they representatives of the people or of the party or advocates or the doorway to government services. In the present circumstances it is indeed hard to tell whether they are all of these things or none of them. One thing is clear, such distinctions need to be clearly spelled out and the status quo changed to make them more accountable individually rather than as just a mouthpiece for their party, and government services must be streamlined and made more accessible to the public so that the MPs can get on with the job of holding the current centralized “government” to account.

Only when the public feel they are being listened to will they start to become 'engaged', perhaps that is why so many of us are being ignored?

Samara's Executive Summary says “(P)olitically engaged Canadians feel, despite their frustrations with politics, that the system does work for them. They believe in their ability to effect change. “

I count myself as fairly 'engaged' but I for one seriously doubt my (or any other non lobby group member of the public) ability to effect change, particularly withing the increasingly oligarchical system of governance we are seeing of late.

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Democracy Requires Dialog

So says my tag line for this blog and it is my belief that such dialog is fundamental to not only democracy and governance but for the good of society in general.

With that in mind for my first post of 2012 I will highlight a few of the various organizations, blogs and websites that are promoting dialog and discussion that I have become aware of in my internet travels.

In no particular order here are a few of my favorites, do take a look and get involved....

Progressive Bloggers THE site to visit for daily a compendium of blog writings from a variety of 'progressives'.

Canadian Green Bloggers Undeniably focused upon the Green point of view but you will find a variety of opinion here also.

Democracy Watch Duff Conacher has long been advocating for democratic reform and Government Accountability.

Fair Vote Canada Advocating for proportional representation and reform of our voting methods you will find much here about voting methods.

Measuring Democracy Samara Canada continues with its efforts to measure democracy by interviewing former MPs and seeking public opinion.

The Sixth Estate compiles lists of partisan appointments to various committees, boards and government positions.

Dale Smith gives us a daily synopsis of the goings on in the House of Commons with links to details and opinions on the subjects of the day.

Peace Order & Good Government The title of the blog tells you of its content, would that we had more of it. (Good Government that is)

Sudbury Steve If you can wade through Steves often looong posts you will find much of interest and more insight from a Green perspective.

I'm Political Nancy blogs daily about political issues, a great source for checking out what has or is happening on the federal scene.

And just because I particularly want to promote dialog within the rural population .

Rural Voices Network a new initiative from the Ontario Womens Institute to seek input from, and develop an online forum for those who live away from the centers of population and power.

The list is by no means all encompassing (you will find a few more in the side bar), there are new writers surfacing daily who understand that allowing a very few of the elected politicians backed by unelected interest groups and corporate big wigs to direct the dialog about our democracy is unacceptable. Only when the majority of citizens realize that doing nothing is even more unacceptable will the gradual erosion of democratic principals be reversed. Keep on bloging ladies and gentlemen your efforts DO have an impact.

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