Fed up with politics as usual? Most Canadians are, and an overwhelming eighty-three percent want their MP to represent them-not a party-in the House of Commons. Without pressure from the people, however, political parties won't consider fundamental reforms to give power back to the people. In Power Shift, author Vaughan Lyon draws on his years of experience as a party activist and political scientist to delve into why and how Canadian political reform must occur. He explores Canadians' desire for a different form of representation-constituency representation-based on citizen participation in making policy and electing MPs. Lyon presents a detailed model of the new politics, shows how its adoption will improve the responsiveness of government, and outlines how it can be organized responsibly at little cost. He also explains how this model would establish the close collaborative relationship of citizens, their MPs, and government and civil servants, a bond essential for the government to meet challenges and rise to Canada's great opportunities. Conditions are ripe for change, and the time for Canadians to wrest control of their MPs from political parties is now. "That the political systems of the democratic world, and the institutions which channel political life in Canada and elsewhere, are in trouble will surprise no one. Vaughan Lyon's contribution to the agonised introspection triggered by that crisis is distinguished by the comprehensiveness of his critique and its accompanying thesis that piecemeal tinkering or adhockery cannot provide the transformative change that is required. "Very little emerges unscathed from his probing and well-documented critique. ... His prime focus is the party system, isolated by party discipline in the legislature from the citizenry it is supposed to serve. The thesis that parties are instruments of democratic citizenship is 'the great delusion.' In fact they are 'a barrier to a twenty-first-century democracy.' "... Vaughan Lyon's goal is an empowered citizenry, the necessary support for the strengthened government needed to grapple with twenty-first century challenges. The alienation of citizens from government is to be reversed with government 'firmly rooted in the citizenry.' ... Professor Lyon advocates a 'quiet Canadian democratic revolution.' He invites the reader to accompany him on the path to that future." -Alan Cairns, past president of the Canadian Political Science Association

POWER SHIFT

From Party Elites to Informed CitizensBy Vaughan Lyon

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Vaughan Lyon
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-3763-6

Contents

Foreword............................................................................................ixPreface.............................................................................................xi1. The Alternative to Party Representation and Government...........................................12. Citizens Systematically Under-Represented, Misrepresented, and "Dumbed Down".....................273. Prime Ministerial Misrule........................................................................534. Partyocracy: Courting Bankruptcy.................................................................725. Partyocracy as Government........................................................................926. Party Administration: Neutral and Professional?..................................................1347. Parties: Agents of National Disunity.............................................................1578. Patching Partyocracy: Delaying True Representative Democracy.....................................2019. Parties on the Public Payroll: Democratic Reform?................................................24810. The Great Delusion: Parties as Vehicles for Democratic Citizenship..............................26611. On the Cusp of True Democratic Representation...................................................292References..........................................................................................303Acknowledgments.....................................................................................320

Chapter One

The Alternative to Party Representation and Government

Policy Democracy Based on Constituency Parliaments

Imagining alternatives can be tough.

Rick Salutin

The prime difficulty ... is that of discovering the means by which a scattered, mobile, and manifest society may so recognize itself as to define and express its interests.

John Dewey

What we call necessary institutions are often no more than institutions to which we have grown accustomed ... in matters of social constitution, the field of possibilities is much more extensive than men living in the various societies are ready to imagine.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Introduction: An Overview of Constituency Parliaments

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, we finally won the universal right to elect our representatives to the House of Commons and, in doing so, to indirectly choose who and what party would govern. Now it is urgent that we take the next step to a fuller democracy, one where citizens will participate directly with their elected leaders in determining the policies the government will adopt. This participation requires an institution that will fill the space—now unsatisfactorily occupied by parties—between citizens and those we elect. Ideally, this institution should create a close working relationship between us, our elected representatives, the governments they form, and the civil service. We can create such an institution. It would be quite simple in structure and modest in cost. The difficulty in establishing it lies in mobilizing the strong (but still only latent) support for constituency representation. We have been socialized into leaving politics to the politicians, but we must now assume responsibility ourselves for fundamental changes in the system. Our politicians will not make them without a strong push from us.

Canadians are now alienated from politics and politicians, feeling powerless in a system purporting to be a democracy. The importance of that alienation is not to be ignored, downplayed, or finessed. It lowers our support for government. That, in turn, has a negative impact on the administration's desire and ability to serve our interests.

The most impressive contemporary evidence supporting the desire of Canadians for a new politics was provided by the Citizens' Forum on Canadian Unity (the Spicer Commission) appointed by Conservative PM Brian Mulroney. After listening to thousands of Canadians from coast to coast, it summarized our views this way: "Since election campaigns do not constitute a vote by the people on ... policies, and since elected representatives seem to have little or no influence or freedom to represent constituents' views, there is a perceived need for mechanisms which will (a) require members of parliament to consult their constituents on major issues; and, (b) either give them more freedom, or require them to vote according to their constituents' wishes. A group in Ontario reflected the consensus of most Forum discussions in reporting: "The government must be changed. We must have a system whereby our elected representatives truly represent and reflect the wishes of their constituents."

It cannot be argued that only reform-minded people were heard by the Commission and that the "silent majority" is satisfied with the existing representative system. As already noted, polling and party promises have, for at least the past century, also reflected the desire of Canadians to have their representatives carry forward their views to the House of Commons, i.e., to have constituency rather than party representation. Even elected MPs and party candidates for office agree, by overwhelming majorities, that they should be allowed to represent the views of their constituents in the Commons.

Our preference for that mode of representation has been ignored or merely exploited by our political leaders, however. No serious thought has been given to how constituency representation might be organized, because it is not in the interests of the parties monopolizing political life to consider alternatives to their dominance. That institution has been allowed to dictate to us!

How legitimate or worthy of our support can government be when it is based on a (party) system of representation that lacks the support of the overwhelming majority of its citizens? Who does the political system belong to—the people whom it claims to serve, or the tiny group of political practitioners working inthe system?

To initiate our consideration of moving Canada to a higher level of democracy, I will present a viable, responsible model embracing the constituency representation we want and need. The model would enable citizens to direct, as well as elect, their governments, taking that power away from parties and, in particular, their leaders. Adoption of the model would institute policy democracy. This advanced form of democracy would be based on the constituency parliaments described below.

I might be expected to conclude the book, after considering all the reasons why the existing system of representation must be democratized, with this description of constituency parliaments. That order is reversed for an important reason. The parties have, as mentioned, convinced many that they are inevitable. If this belief is not effectively challenged by showing how representation could be organized without parties, it would be difficult for many people to accept my critique of their performance. What would be the point of doing so if we believe that we must have them and, especially, if we feel the features of the...