Assignment 1: Canada’s Democratic Deficit Ashnie Ram Business Administration, University of Guelph-Humber BADM*3200: Business and Government Dr. Gordon Bannerman February 9th, 2024 1 Canada has been following the structure of a representative democracy since it first became a country in 1867. In a representative democracy, the interests and desires of the people are represented by elected officials during the political decision-making process. Representatives are chosen through fair elections, rather than citizens directly participating in every decision, to make decisions on their behalf. Elected officials are held accountable to the electorate through elections whereby citizens have the opportunity to evaluate their performance, and then decide if they fit the criteria for re-election. REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY IN CANADA The representative democracy in Canada is represented in the form of a parliamentary system, within a constitutional monarchy. It stems from British tradition, and consists of three fundamental institutions: The House of Commons, The Senate, and the Crown. Elected representatives operate within this established structure. Under this parliamentary system, there are multiple branches that interact to advance the flow of the political system. In order of power, the executive branch is at the top and consists of the Prime Minister, the head of government with the most seats in the House of Commons, and the Cabinet, which is made up of ministers from the Members of Parliament (MPs) and Senators appointed by the Prime Minister. The second branch is legislative. This branch is parliament, and consists of the House of Commons, which is the lower house where MPs are elected, and Senate, the upper house composed of specifically appointed Senators who represent Canadian regions. The third tier is the judicial branch which represents the court system, and finally is the lowest branch which is the electorate branch consisting of all Canadian citizens 18 or older who are eligible to vote in elections. STRENGTHS OF CANADA’S DEMOCRACY 2 From a fundamental and factual standpoint, Canada is a successful democracy. This is evident from the way that the government measures up to the elements of a strong democracy. In 2020, Canada advanced to fifth place on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, scoring a 9.24 out of 10 (Slaughter, 2021). A healthy democracy is one that takes great care in ensuring that its citizens' rights are adequately protected. The Canadian government has enacted an abundance of privacy and protection laws that are heavily enforced, and diligently updated on a regular basis. Canada has two federal privacy laws that are enforced by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: the Privacy Act, which details how the government handles personal information; and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which covers how businesses handle personal information. There are also sector-specific and provincial privacy laws, which are a collection of guidelines curated for different regions. In the months of November and December of 2022, a survey was conducted by Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc. on behalf of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner regarding citizen’s thoughts on privacy related issues in the country. According to the survey, a vast majority of Canadians, roughly 80 percent, trust that the Government of Canada will protect their personal information (Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 2023). The Government of Canada has done their duty of providing adequate protection. Another important strength of the representative democracy that is present in Canada is its election system. Canada has been conducting fair and free elections for decades. The government has established a comprehensive electoral framework to ensure that elections are run with the utmost inclusivity and integrity. Electoral laws have been put in place to govern federal elections, and legislators have worked to create increased accessibility which provides all qualified Candians the fair opportunity to vote. The secret ballot system currently in place also provides citizens with the 3 added reassurance that they are entitled to vote according to their political standing, without having to face coercion or intimidation from outside parties. WEAKNESSES IN CANADA’S DEMOCRACY Despite the fact that the democratic system in Canada is widely regarded as robust and well-functioning, it is not without its share of difficulties and deficiencies. The first area of weakness is within the electoral process. The First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral system is a method of voting used at the federal level to elect members of the House of Commons, and at the provincial and territorial levels to select members of the legislature. Unfortunately, there has been a history of issues with this method of voting. The FPTP structure was developed by the British and it is intended to follow the rules of a majority system, in which the party that receives the most votes is the winner. However, even if a candidate does not secure an absolute majority, or more than 50 percent of votes, they can still win the seat. Thus, plurality usually ends up winning. One of the major issues is the disproportionate representation of seat allocation, in comparison to the popular vote. This results in parties winning a significant number of seats, despite receiving only a minority of vote share. “In the most recent election for example, the Liberal Party of Canada obtained 46.4 percent of the seats in the House of Commons with only 33.1 percent of the popular vote. This allowed them to form government, despite the Conservative Party of Canada earning a slightly larger percentage of the popular vote with 34.4 percent. (...) The FPTP system often produces these disproportionate results” (Meng, 2020). Another significant issue with the Canadian political system is the underrepresentation of women and minority groups, “The results of the latest election have only 29 percent of seats in the House of Commons held by women, and although they make up 5 percent of the population, just under 3 percent of seats are filled by First Nations representatives” (Meng, 2020). Women and minority 4 candidates are at a higher risk of facing challenges due to systemic barriers. They often experience a severe lack of support from political parties, as well as limited access to campaign funding, which harms their chance of being elected. As mentioned previously, on the surface it seems that Canada has a successful, healthy democracy. However, there is a severe issue of mistrust between citizens and the government. The trust that Canadians once felt towards the government began to erode during the COVID-19 pandemic. The force that the Canadian government was required to place on citizens to follow lockdown rules and health mandates left a lot of Canadians upset. “By March of this year, IPSOS reported that Canadians’ “trust in government to do what is right” had dropped from 58% in late 2020 to 43%” (Norquay, 2022). Trust was also diminished due to empty promises made by government officials. As of his reelection in 2021, Justin Trudeau has not kept any of the promises he made during his campaign to help the Indigenous communities across Canada. There is a major lack of clean, safe drinking water in First Nations reserves which poses a huge threat to the health and wellbeing of the Indigenous people residing there. “The government of Prime Minister Trudeau committed to end all drinking water advisories on First Nations reserves by 2021 but, as of September, 28 First Nations communities across Canada remained subject to long-term water advisories, which alert communities when their water is not safe to drink” (Hassan, 2023). CANADA’S DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT After analyzing both the strengths and weaknesses of Canada’s current democratic structure, a conclusion can be drawn that although there is no risk of democratic backsliding, there are significant gaps between the ideal picture of a successful democracy and its current practice. Voter participation in Canada has faced a severe drop over the years. The lowest voter turnout in history was recorded during the 2022 election, in which only 43.5 percent of eligible 5 voters cast their ballot (DeClerq, 2022). There is an extreme dissatisfaction with the current structure of the government. There have been an influx of complaints made by Canadians who feel that their votes are not being accurately translated into seats. The simplicity of the First-Past-the-Post system results in a large percentage of votes casted having no influence on election results, which makes it too easy for a candidate to win (Fair Vote Toronto, 2020). The deficit also stems from significant skepticism towards politicians, and the government as a whole. There is an increasingly large number of Canadians who take on a pessimistic view when it comes to their political representatives. According to a study done by the Environics Institute, more than half (58 percent) of people believe the government cannot be trusted, and 56 percent believe there is some sort of corruption within (Environics Institute, 2014). There is also a huge lack of engagement from younger voters. In 2021, there was only a 47 percent voter turnout of Canadians aged 18-24. This is due to the fact that young Canadians do not believe that their political representatives are taking their needs into consideration. The policy-making process is another contributing factor. Canada’s parliamentary system assigns too high a concentration of power to the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The role of the Members of Parliament is limited due to the prime minister’s office holding the most influence over policy decisions, which diminishes the opportunity for public input into policy-making. Finally, as mentioned previously, the lack of representation of women and minority groups severely affects Canada’s ability to have a healthy democracy. It is extremely difficult to garner adequate participation from citizens when a huge demographic of voters do not feel like their voice or opinions are important enough to be considered, let alone represented. In conclusion, Canada’s representative democracy possesses a plethora of strengths and weaknesses. The country’s privacy and protection laws are exceptional, which allows citizens to 6 feel adequate security, and the fair and easily accessible voting system makes the process of participating in the democratic process extremely simple for Canadians. However, as ideal as this system may seem on paper, there are a significant number of weak spots in Canada’s democracy. Through an in-depth analysis of these weaknesses, it is extremely evident that they are responsible for creating the democratic deficit gap in what is expected from the government, and what is actually being done. While the First-Past-the-Post system may simplify the process of voting, it often results in a disproportionate representation of voting results due to a large majority of votes having little to no influence. There is also the major issue of voter turnout declining, and an overall lack of participation from citizens on account of the fact that Canadians feel like they are not being properly represented, and that their needs are not being met. Finally, the current structure in place for policy-making does not provide a fair distribution of power. The Prime Minister and Cabinet possess the bulk of influential power, leaving the Members of Parliament, and ultimately the public, with very little say in how policies are developed. Canada’s democracy has evolved a great deal since its establishment, and in comparison to other nations, the system we currently have in place is somewhat ideal. However, there is significant room for reform and improvement, of which could possibly eliminate the democratic deficit entirely. 7 References Canadian public opinion on Governance and the Public Service. Environics Institute. (n.d.). https://www.environicsinstitute.org/projects/project-details/canadian-public-opinion-on-g overnance-and-the-public-service DeClerq, K. (2022, June 3). Ontario records lowest voter turnout in election history. Toronto. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-records-lowest-voter-turnout-in-election-history-1.593 1440 Hassan, T. (2023, January 20). World Report 2023: Rights trends in Canada. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/canada Meng, M. (2020, March 30). Why Canada needs electoral reform. Harvard International Review. https://hir.harvard.edu/why-canada-needs-electoral-reform/ Norquay, G. (2022, November 30). Canada’s growing problem with trust in government. Policy Magazine. https://www.policymagazine.ca/canadas-growing-problem-with-trust-in-government/ Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. (2023, June 14). 2022-23 survey of Canadians on privacy-related issues. https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-actions-and-decisions/research/explore-privacy-research/2 023/por_ca_2022-23/ Slaughter, G. (2021, February 4). Canada’s democracy is growing stronger as world weakens: Report. CTVNews. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-s-democracy-is-growing-stronger-as-world-weak ens-report-1.5296226?cache=yes Why our voting system misrepresents us. Fair Vote Toronto. (2020, June 3). 8 https://www.fairvotetoronto.ca/why-our-voting-system-misrepresents-us/
