Democracy can be loosely defined as "rule by the people." We, in Canada, call ourselves a democracy with great self-satisfaction. Of course, democracy doesn't mean the people have to participate in a referendum on every question or every action taken by the government. Ours is a parliamentary democracy in which our elected representatives make those decisions for us and we, in theory, can hold them accountable for their decisions at election time.
This only works well, however, if we do let them know, in no uncertain terms, what we expect, what we like and what we do not want, frequently between elections. When our politicians make poor or harmful decisions we should let them know immediately through letters, public protests, internet blogs, etc. Elections themselves occur too infrequently to be the only check and balance tool we use. In Canada, the system is severely broken and it is our (the people's) fault.
Politicians continually get away with inaction, where action is required, and with wrongful action where different action is required. By the time the next election roles around the politicians have, all too easily, distracted most of the population with hand-picked "platform issues", usually couched in the most general (and thereby unaccountable) of terms such as 'fighting poverty' or 'fixing the economy' or 'creating prosperity through jobs." Following the election, they all too easily get away with simply ignoring their platform promises or watering them down to some pathetic ghost of their original selves.
The Harper Conservatives promised to make government more open, but have practiced the most secretive and unaccountable government we have had in Canada since World War II. They promised to protect Canadian sovereignty in the arctic, but have done nothing concrete to ensure that sovereignty while Russia, Denmark and the U.S.A. have all taken concrete steps to encroach upon our sovereignty. They promised to ensure more jobs and job security, but continue to tie Canada's employment fate too tightly to the plateauing (if not failing) American market and western dirty oil while doing almost nothing to take advantage of the burgeoning behemoths of China and India and the far more secure job creation powers of low carbon energy sources. They promised to set Canadian elections to set dates in order to avoid unnecessary elections being arranged at the whim of some political party or parties for no other reason than the polls' indicating they might increase in parliamentary seats held at that particular time. Then what does Harper do last fall but ignore his own proposal and call an election nobody but the Conservatives wanted simply because they 'scented' (incorrectly) the possibility of a majority Conservative government at that time.
Yet, do Harper and his Conservative government face protest from the public for these failings? No, the response is almost silent complacency, not because everyone, or even some vast majority, agrees with their record on these matters, but because we, by and large, find it too difficult, too time consuming, too embarrassing to speak out clearly and let the government know we are not happy. It is much easier to sit back and say "we'll have our say in the next election." Of course, elections themselves are a bother and cost more than ten tax dollars for each citizen so even those who are unhappy with the government tend to say "the last thing we need is another election right now," And what do the polls show about what the Canadian populace thinks about their government? Polls taken just before and just after Mr. Harper's recent public recital, in which he sang a Beatles song and played the piano, indicate a huge upsurge in Harper's popularity as a political leader!!! He doesn't have to perform well as a leader week by week and month by month, he simply has to perform moderately well, on a particular night, as a stage entertainer? The answer to this last question is apparently, and to the great shame of all Canadians, yes! I'll say it again, Canada's political system is very badly broken and it's our own fault.
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