At this point, most of those who are paying attention recognize that Canada has been facing a disturbing accountability crisis. Even Andrew Coyne in Maclean's points out the “long train of offences against democratic and parliamentary principle” that the Conservatives will bring to office with them.
Yet this trend is at odds with the flourishing of online practices and tools that make it easier for citizens to know and report on what’s going on with their government. During the recent federal election, OpenMedia.ca talked directly to politicians on our supporters’ behalf, asking them to fill out our online survey and add their name to our list of pro-internet candidates. We asked that they be willing to create more, not fewer, means of holding them accountable, and hundreds of politicians responded – just one small indicator that new tools shift our expectations around accountability and transparency.
The Conservatives, as you might know, mostly refused to participate. They dug in their heels. So what now, with them having a majority in Parliament?
Full Article
Democracy Gone Astray
Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.
All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.
[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]
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