Canadian Democracy & Its Conservative Discontents

The word democracy conjures up many warm feelings for me. For as flawed a system as it obviously is, all of the alternatives give me serious shivers. So it was with interest that I noted in a recent Toronto Star article that Canadians are feeling more cynicism than ever about the state of democracy in our country.

Well over a century and a half ago, Alexis de Tocqueville expressed serious concerns about democracy in America when he opined that American commoners were going to be too busy figuring out how to survive. This was a problem because they would not have the time nor the inclination to figure out their best political interests and who to vote for. (Think about the decreasing voter turnout in the vast majority of elections in both Canada and the United States.)

A century after de Tocqueville, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World described a society in which the commoners would become so immersed in a world of entertainment and spectacle that they would not even be interested in having a say in how their society should function.  (Think about the current fascination with celebrity culture.) 

Not long after that, George Orwell warned of the nefarious strategy of manipulating language to further entrench power for the elites, suggesting that this would be enough to keep the masses from understanding what is in their own best interests. (Think of the tax cuts for the wealthy and trickle-down economics discourse.)

It is clear that all three social commentators were onto something. Democracy in all western nations, especially the English-speaking ones, is susceptible to the forces described by these thinkers. And democracy in all of these nations, with few exceptions, is on the wane.

But nary a one could have predicted what is happening in Canada today. The governing Conservatives led by Stephen Harper are a much bigger threat to democracy in Canada than the forces described by de Tocqueville, Huxley and Orwell. Because support for the Conservatives has not decreased very much from the 39% they received during the last election in May 2011, one has to conclude that conservative voters have very little respect for democracy either.

Let’s go over some of the anti-democratic actions the Harper Conservatives have been up to since they first came to power almost seven years ago.

The prorogation of Parliament. I did not know of one person who had ever even heard of the word "prorogation" before Harper pulled it out of his hat back in the fall of 2008. Why did he shut down Parliament? Because the Liberals and the NDP were going to form a coalition and topple the Harper Conservative minority government. The coalition idea was legitimate. Proroguing Parliament was not.

And then about 18 months later Canadians heard the term once again – Harper shut down Parliament for a second time in an attempt to stop an inquiry into his government's complicity in the torture of Afghani prisoners. That’s two illegitimate prorogations of Parliament in less than two years!

Watching Harper’s success with this prorogation strategy, a domino effect swept across the land. In Newfoundland, the Conservatives shut down their Legislature for seven months and governed without any opposition. In the late summer months of this year, the tired BC Liberal government called off the fall session of the BC Legislature for fear of getting further pummeled in the polls before the upcoming spring election. And a little over a month ago, Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty simultaneously announced his resignation and closed the Ontario Legislature until his party could pick a new leader and premier-designate. I guess we should not be surprised – after all, these three premiers saw Harper get away with shutting down Parliament not once but twice!

Should Canadians simply accept their governments shutting down their respective legislative houses anytime they feel like it? I do not think so. For one thing it is the antithesis of a healthy democracy.

But maybe de Tocqueville is right. Maybe the vast majority of Canadians are too busy simply trying to make ends meet and this is why resistance to Harper’s prorogation strategy barely registered. I will wager, however, that the growing cynicism toward Canadian democracy has much to do with the violations committed by our current federal government.

What are some other anti-democratic strategies employed by the Harper Conservatives since they first formed government in 2006?

The list is long. Here is only a partial sampling. (As you read these Conservative violations, just consider the overall effect on Canadian democracy.)

In 2007, the press came across a secret handbook made by the Prime Minister's Office that explained to Conservative MPs how to obstruct and manipulate any Commons committees they happened to be on. One of the strategies explained to the MP that if the committee looked like it was about to rule on something not in the interests of the Conservative agenda that they simply walk out of the meeting and shut down the entire process.

Even worse than that egregious strategy, the Harper Conservatives have attempted to muzzle the entire civil service by firing anyone who says anything perceived as anti-Conservative. Who can remember any of these high profile firings? The head of Statistics Canada over the long form census. The diplomat in Afghanistan who blew the whistle on the Harper Cons handing over prisoners to be tortured. The head scientist of the Chalk River nuclear facility claiming Harper’s information on isotopes was incorrect. And the list is a lot longer than that. (If you would like to find out more, just check into how the Harper Conservatives have shut down any scientist claiming that development of the Alberta Bitumen Sands is damaging the planet’s climate systems.)

Let’s keep going.

The Harper Conservatives ran a campaign leading up to the May 2011 election claiming that Canada was going to buy some stealth F-35 jets that would cost taxpayers $14 billion. After the election, it was revealed that the Conservatives knew that the price would be almost double that. A Commons committee was struck to investigate the F-35 jets contract, only to have the Conservative government recently shut it down as the committee closed in on which Conservatives knew about the big lie to taxpayers, to voters, to citizens.

And what about the robocall fiasco from the May 2011 election? It seems strange to me that not one member of the media has asked the Prime Minister to say something about this travesty of democratic justice. And for any Harper supporter wishing to claim Conservative innocence, I want to ask what you think of the Harper Conservatives trying (unsuccessfully thus far) to close down any investigation into the robocalls.

(I think every Canadian should thank the Council of Canadians for continuing their efforts to get the robocall case heard in court in the face of massive obstacles put up by the Harper Conservatives.)

Even the most fervent Conservative supporter has got to agree that the optics look terrible for the governing Conservatives as they continue to block the investigation. And every conservative supporter must agree that it really does seem strange that the media continues to give Harper a free ride by not asking him why he is so intent on shutting down the court case.

Some conservatives claim that Canada’s media has a strong liberal bias. What a joke that is!

What is even more pathetic than that claim is the Harper Conservatives winning the dubious distinction of being the first government in Canadian history to be found in contempt of Parliament itself. This is a serious breach of our democracy. (This led to the May 2011 election that gave the Harper Conservatives their first majority, making me consider that the atheists might be right after all.)

What did Canadians think about the $1 Billion dollars spent by the Harper Conservatives to host the G20 meetings in Toronto in 2010? What did Canadians think of the intense G20 police state created so that the leaders of these 20 nations could discuss plans to attack public pension plans? I am quite certain that the peaceful protesters and even the bystanders who were locked away for the better part of the day, some of them beaten badly, were not very impressed with Harper's plans.

All of these Conservative plans are clearly anti-democratic. But it even gets worse!

In late September, the Harper Conservatives made a very sly and sleazy deal with the Chinese government referred to as the Canada-China Investment Deal (with the acronym FIPPA). Canadians need to know that once China buys Canadian natural resources, the hands of the Canadian government will be tied. Harper has agreed to let China sue Canada outside of Canadian courts and behind closed doors! This commitment to secrecy goes against the long standing policy of our federal governments.

To be honest, I am quite surprised that Harper’s base of social conservatives are not objecting to the Conservatives wheeling and dealing with the totalitarian regime of China. This economic giant practices authoritarian capitalism. It is also a nation that does not respect human rights.

This post is getting long, so the next set of Conservative anti-democratic initiatives will be mentioned in short fashion. Or at least I hope they will.

Bill C-377, which has been championed by Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, is an attack on unions by thwarting their revenue streams and reversing the long standing Rand Formula around union dues. (There will be a future post on the Harper Conservatives’ relentless attack on unions and the collective bargaining rights of Canadian workers.)

This particular post is focused on the Conservative attack on Canadian democracy. As such, I simply have to mention the two massive omnibus bills the Harper Conservatives have placed before Parliament. Last spring, the 425 pages in Bill C-38 changed 74 laws. Even though it was ostensibly a budget bill, some Canadians found out that Bill C-38 virtually wiped out environmental assessment and regulation. And a few learned that Harper is allowing foreign police to come into Canada and arrest Canadian citizens. Many of the other bits of legislation are equally disconcerting.

Harper has now put a second massive omnibus bill before Parliament. Bill C-45 affects 64 laws and regulations. There is virtually no time for the opposition to put up a fight or try to educate Canadians on what is included in these massive bills.

Was Harper always anti-democratic? Well, perhaps. But we would not know this from what he used to say. Almost 20 years ago, back when our Prime Minister was a rookie Reform Party MP, Harper spoke quite eloquently about a 21-page Liberal omnibus bill. Here is what the future Prime Minister said:

“Mr. Speaker, I would argue that the subject matter of the bill is so diverse that a single vote on the content would put members in conflict with their own principles.”

“…Second, in the interest of democracy I ask: How can members represent their constituents on these various areas when they are forced to vote in a block on such legislation and on such concerns? We can agree with some of the measures but oppose others. How do we express our views and the views of our constituents when the matters are so diverse? Dividing the bill into several components would allow members to represent views of their constituents on each of the different components in the bill.” (Hansard, March 25, 1994)

Harper the young MP did not like the 21-page Liberal omnibus bill because it was anti-democratic. Harper the Prime Minister, however, has no qualms about forcing through omnibus bills 25 times bigger than what the Liberals ever put through! Clearly, Harper has changed his tune on omnibus bills since his portrayal as a principled conservative back in 1994. And just as clearly, it demonstrates an extreme disdain for our democratic traditions.

It is too difficult a task to ascertain which of these strategies employed by the Harper Conservatives are the worst violations of our democratic traditions. I know many people would say it’s the robocall fiasco and Harper’s attempts to kill the court case. Others make a strong case that it was the prorogation of Parliament. Last spring I considered the massive omnibus budget bill that gutted so much regulation of industry. At this point, however, I am leaning toward Harper’s investment deal with Communist China as being the biggest violation of our sovereignty and our democracy.

(If readers would like to weigh in on what they think is the biggest affront to Canadian democracy, feel free to leave a comment.)

I would gladly accept the last Conservative Prime Minister over the current one. I never thought I would say what I am about to say, but here goes anyway: Brian Mulroney, please come back and lead the Conservative Party. Even though you stole $2 million of our tax dollars, I would gladly take your style of leadership over that of Stephen Harper’s.

At least Canadian democracy was not threatened nearly so much under Mulroney. (Remember that the list of Conservative violations I gave is only a partial list.)

It is obvious that de Tocqueville, Huxley and Orwell could see that democracy was a fragile entity in need of constant protection. But even these prominent democrats would not have been able to foresee what the Harper Conservatives could do to a more or less functioning democracy.

Democracy is the best system to give voice to as many people as possible. When functioning properly, it is also the best system to distribute power. Given what is happening to our democracy over the past seven years, it is obvious that the Harper Conservatives are not interested in strengthening our democracy; indeed, they want to weaken it.

One can make the argument that these Conservative politicians are weakening democracy in an attempt to hold onto power. As awful as that rationale is, I think there may be something more sinister behind it. Modern conservatism in the North American context is highly correlated to authoritarian inclinations. Bearing this in mind, it may not be too much of a stretch to assume that some conservatives really do not care for democracy all that much.

This is an especially frightening proposition, and one that advocates for civil society need to take seriously.

It really is too bad that Canadians do not have the same passion to stand up to obsequious power that the Quebec students demonstrated last spring. After all, the students won! I believe that Canadians would also win if enough of us stood together to stop the Harper Conservatives and their flagrant disregard of our democracy.

Note #1: Almost every week another Conservative violation of our democracy comes to light. The day after I wrote this post, I woke up to learn that a recent investigation into Conservative pollster Nick Kouvalis found him guilty of lying to the citizens in a Montreal riding by claiming that its Liberal MP Irwin Cotler was retiring. (Yeah, this is the same Kouvalis who told enough lies to help get that Rob Ford guy elected as Toronto mayor two long years ago.) As disgusting as this violation is, however, it really is small potatoes compared to other Conservative strategies to weaken our democracy.

Note #2: A reader asked about a source regarding that Conservative Handbook on how to disrupt the important work of Commons Committees. Please see this article:

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/215532---obstruction-handbook-leaked

Note #3: For more information about what is happening to Canada's fragile democracy, please go to: http://DemocracyWatch.ca

Note #4: For an excellent and illuminating article about Environment Minister Peter Kent's muzzling of scientists working for the government, read
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/12/05/should-peter-kent-still-be-in-the-broadcasters-hall-of-fame/
It really does show how badly the Harper Cons want to block any scientist claiming that the environment is being threatened. The mainstream media is letting them get away with this!