A First Nation that announced its discovery of children’s graves at a Residential School has sought tens of millions in federal grants including the cost of building a national shrine at Kamloops, B.C. The requests followed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2021 pledge to “make amends” though no human remains have been recovered to date: “The department is ready to flow funds.”
The Canadian Armed Forces are thousands short of minimum strength for regular, fully trained soldiers, sailors and air crew, according to figures in a Department of National Defence briefing note. It said a program to bolster enlistment by targeting immigrants enrolled fewer than 120 volunteers: “People are at the core of everything the Canadian Armed Forces does.”
An RCMP air patrol was so mismanaged its helicopters only flew till 4 pm weekdays, says an internal audit. The Mounties announced the lease of new helicopters only after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened 25 percent tariffs over inadequate border security: “How do we do that?”
The Canada Border Services Agency yesterday served notice of a new program to train officers to board fugitive vessels in Canadian waters. Managers did not specify whether the initiative was prompted by U.S. complaints of lax security at the border: “Officers are required at times to board vessels which are underway.”
The New Democrats’ lone MP east of Ontario has sponsored a petition to boycott all trade with Israel. Québec MP Alexandre Boulerice (centre) earlier described Israel as a “boot crushing a human face.”
Millions paid to a British Columbia First Nation to recover suspected children’s graves at an Indian Residential School were instead budgeted for publicists and consultants, documents show. The Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations attempted to conceal the financial records under the Access To Information Act: “We are not seeking to intervene in this matter but are trying to understand.”
Chrystia Freeland’s last budget as finance minister was rated by Canadians as “mediocre,” “unfocused” and “smoke and mirrors,” says in-house focus group research by the Department of Finance. Pollsters hired by the department said taxpayers, especially older Canadians, were upset by unchecked deficit spending: “Words used to describe the budget included ‘insufficient,’ ‘mediocre,’ ‘meh.'”
Cabinet’s promise of $250 pre-election cheques is dead, says Public Works Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. Speaking as the Prime Minister’s “Québec lieutenant,” he said the $4.7 billion giveaway was now untimely: “We have concerns.”
Cabinet has extended a $1,034,000,000 line of credit to the post office. The loan is to “maintain its solvency and ensure it can continue its operations,” the Department of Public Works wrote in a terse notice: “The corporation must be put on a path to viability.”
Many Ukrainian war refugees will likely remain in Canada permanently, Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters Friday. Miller said Canada had “limited capacity” though only a third of 962,612 war refugees granted permission to enter Canada landed here: “I am not sending them back to Ukraine as long as the war continues.”
The National Civil Rights Museum
at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis.
A black-and-white photo
shows Jesse Jackson
reading the Chicago Daily Defender:
“King Murdered!”
Those were dark days.
Before Wi-Fi,
before smartphones,
before Twitter.
By Shai Ben-Shalom
Genevieve Fuji Johnson, a political scientist, spied the land for democracy. Not the raucous democracy of Parliament, but the beautiful democracy envisioned by ancient Greeks. Her search ended badly. The result is this crisp and engaging book. There is nothing like disillusionment to inspire compelling non-fiction.
“Deliberative democracy is a rich ideal,” writes Fuji Johnson, associate professor at Simon Fraser University. “It invokes a democratic system of governance in which citizens actively exchange ideas, engage in debate and create laws responsive to their interests and aspirations.”
“Ideal” is the key word here. Many Canadians think of democracy as the right to dissent and be left alone. Democratic Illusion went in search of something finer.
“I sought out success stories in contemporary public policy to understand how principles derived from or related to the ideal of deliberative democracy are being applied, and what their implications are for a broader system of collective norm formation and decision making,” Fuji Johnson explains. And how did that work out? “Appearance was deceiving,” she writes.
Democratic Illusion is neither cynical nor dark. It is an entertaining account of how Greek democracy doesn’t stand a chance in 21st century Canada. Fuji Johnston examines case studies from Nunavut to Nova Scotia in which town hall engagement resulted in disappointment.
An example: Toronto Community Housing Corp., largest public landlord in Canada with 164,000 tenants, created advisory committees where residents could vote on how to spend maintenance budgets: “After discussion and debate, residents would either use secret ballots or dots on a flip chart to collectively rank the projects.” So far, so good.
Tenants’ committees quickly became unwieldy. One had 22 members, bigger than the Yukon legislature. Then tenants began voting for budget items that offered immediate benefits: better gardens, new playgrounds; modern bathroom vanities; more security cameras. Spending on roof shingles and boiler maintenance declined, and by 2013 the corporation had a capital deficit of $750 million.
Then directors misspent funds on sole-sourced contracts and “team building” junkets like boat cruises, and in 2011 the CEO was dismissed along the entire board. The corporation was stripped of most of its spending powers in 2012.
Another example: Nova Scotia Power Inc. in 2004 commissioned a “deliberative poll” called a Customer Energy Forum. It worked as a focus group. A total 135 utility customers were invited to debate and discuss priorities. Participants got $150 and a meal voucher; the utility got a report indicating customers were worried about emissions from coal-fired plants, and quietly shelved the findings. Nova Scotia remains one of Canada’s biggest coal burners, producing so much pollution it was granted a 2014 waiver from federal greenhouse gas regulations.
“Polls played a very minor role relative to closed-door negotiations,” notes Democratic Illusion. “Perhaps cynically, the polls may have also been an endeavor to improve public relations.”
Democratic Illusion does not despair, it explains. Most of us don’t have the time or inclination to participate in deliberative democracy. Government is so complex it is “impenetrable by the average citizen” and people who run things will never relinquish power, anyway.
“We learn from my study that, no matter how robust the procedures may be, if there is no elite willingness to empower them, they are essentially undemocratic,” Fuji Johnson concludes. “Perhaps worse, they are undemocratic while creating an illusion of democracy.”
We are left with dissent, and the ritual of punishment. Let the voting begin!
By Holly Doan
Democratic Illusion: Deliberative Democracy in Canadian Public Policy by Genevieve Fuji Johnson; University of Toronto Press; 200 pages; ISBN 9781-4426-11245; $24.95
Liberal leadership candidate Karina Gould yesterday said she opposes her cabinet’s proposed $17.4 billion increase in capital gains taxes. The Burlington, Ont. MP did not explain why she voted for the measure seven months ago as Government House Leader: “I don’t think we got the capital gains tax increase right.”
An anti-Israel advocacy group says it forced CBC-TV to issue a correction over whether the bombing of Gaza was “genocide.” The incident followed thousands of complaints alleging biased coverage at the Crown broadcaster: “Such an admission by our public broadcaster is rare.”
Attorney General Arif Virani yesterday confirmed cabinet will file an intervenor’s brief in a landmark Supreme Court case on government powers versus religious freedom. The Court agreed to hear appeals of a 2019 Québec law that restricts public display of religious symbols by public employees on duty including Muslim hijabs or Sikh turbans: “That will have an impact right across the country.”
