The proclaimed eruption of democracy in Northern Africa seems to have been a little premature, but one could be forgiven for such optimism, as we might not quite recognize what democracy truly is — the will of the people. Though we claim to be a democratic society, in truth we have a watered-down version, known as a representative democracy — we elect others to make decisions for us.
Our version has some major flaws, which have recently come to light with the Stephen Harper government being held in contempt of Parliament. Though the government of the day makes up the executive branch of government, it is still responsible to the people’s representatives in the House of Commons. This government seems to have ignored this fact again. Yet this democratic deficit cannot be laid entirely at the government’s feet as the opposition parties, worrying about their chances at the election polls, have let them off in the past. It’s a flaw of the party system and one can only wonder if they will do this again.
Yet, this deficit is more than just irresponsible government. The hallmarks of a democracy, even a representative democracy, are the rights and freedoms of the citizens. You cannot have a democracy without them. The people must be allowed to assemble, associate and express themselves publicly to allow debate over the issues. But recently we have seen such rights and freedoms suppressed by armed and organized paramilitary units. Not in an underdeveloped country, but right here in Canada. The actions of the Toronto police at the recent G8 and G20 summits threatened the fabric of Canada’s democracy.
The actions of the police were bad enough, but what has been worse is that Parliament has not spoken about it nor does it seem to want find out who was responsible. Its silence implies that it agreed with such oppressive acts. What does this say for Canadian democracy? To say and do nothing now means that it will happen again.
The Canadian public is just as complicit in the demise of Canadian democracy as they too have tacitly allowed this to happen. Most Canadians believed the few rogue activists in the demonstrations and the incidents of vandalism and a burning car being televised warranted the removal of the rights of all the protestors. But this becomes a slippery slope, for to punish the innocent for a ‘greater good’ is an injustice and gives far too much power to a small segment of society, a power that, once given, is hard to claim back.
If government and its agents are not held accountable, if the checks and balances of the system are ignored, if we do not challenge, question and demand better of our government and if Canadians do not regain their voice and stand up for each other, we could soon find that we have lost what we seem to cherish most: our rights, our freedoms and our democracy. As John Diefenbaker once said, “I do not have to agree with what you are doing, but I will stand up for your right to do it.”
