Continuing conversations with Canadians IV

The National Post has an excellent piece today on “Understanding our democracy,” by former Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson. The column is an excerpt from a new book, Parliamentary Democracy in Crisis edited by Peter Russell and Lorne Sossin.

Following the coalition agreement in November and the abrupt prorogation of the House of Commons at the request of the Governor-General, many Canadians discovered our knowledge of our own political system is appallingly lacking. People were confused about what was happening, unsure of what should happen, and sometimes, quite convinced that our system operates in another way altogether!

In response to this realization, this book draws together academics, journalists, practitioners and constitutional experts to reflect on the crisis, explain what happened, and to analyze what this means moving forward. Clarkson is one of 17 contributors.

Clarkson points out that calling the situation before Christmas a crisis might be engaging in hyperbole: “just because a resolution has to be found does not mean that the situation is a crisis.”

However, she also notes that the situation epitomized the fact that Canadians do not understand their own history or their own present. Students no longer learn Canada’s political history, including the development of responsible government, the creation and evolution of the Constitution, and the transition of powers from the United Kingdom to Canada. We are also mesmerized by our giant neighbour to the south, and the glamour and clamour of its political process. “Canadians should learn to live in their own moment,” Clarkson argues.

“The events of a few months ago should be a rallying cry for all of us to examine the interpretations of our parliamentary democracy and to convey our knowledge and experience about them.”

Our need for frank conversations about our democracy extends to a dialogue about changes to improve our democracy. Just because it works doesn’t mean that it couldn’t work better, Clarkson observes.

Ultimately, she concludes, “There is so much misunderstanding about our system and of the functioning of every part of it that we are in serious danger of losing the good things that we have and of not understanding when bad things happen.”