“GET INVOLVED IN POLITICS!”
In January of this year, students at the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs had the opportunity hear former Canadian Senator Michael Meighen as he called on them to become politically involved in the party of their choice. Asked to address the “changing nature of the policy of the parties in the Canadian Federation,” Meighen painted a highly realistic picture of the parties’ situation and of partisanship in Canada.
He finds that both the parties and partisanship are currently in the process of changing. The former Senator reminded his audience that a political party is an organization that sets participation in public affairs as one of its basic goals, a goal which it reaches by backing one or more of its members or candidates and helping them to get elected. According to this definition, a political party is a mechanism by which those who are prepared to serve Canadians are enabled to run for elected public office.
Parties also help to articulate the interests of people who are seeking to attract public attention to their views for purposes of influencing the public policy process. Parties have a platform (i.e., non-brokerage parties) and facilitate government interaction with the public on matters of national or regional interest (i.e., playing the role of broker). Some parties are therefore more non-brokerage in nature while others are more prone to act as brokers. According to Meighen, the Conservative and New Democratic Parties are non-brokerage parties that have a difficult time becoming brokerage parties while also hanging on to some of the remnants of their ideological underpinnings.
In his opinion, the federal political parties currently represented in the House of Commons are a cross between the two party types. The “brokerage parties” try to maximize their support by occupying the centre of the political scene. Meighen does not think it possible for the left-leaning parties to unite forces between now and the 2015 election.
“It’s obvious,” says Meighen, “that the NDP’s aim is nothing short of coming to power, while the Liberals are going to try to reclaim their past glory. I fail to see how the unification of the Left, which some people are pinning their hopes on, could come to fruition. And I haven’t even mentioned the Greens …” In the view of the former Senator, the Liberal Party of Canada, the New Democratic Party and perhaps even the Green Party are undergoing internal changes as they now review their political platforms in order to appeal to as many Canadians as possible and thereby maximize their political influence, while at the same time remaining true to their ideological roots.
Normally, the Conservative Party should be positioned on the right of the political spectrum. However, the economic downturn of 2008 made it necessary for the Party to begin to change direction with its January 2009 budget and to accept the largest deficit in Canadian history. As Meighen said, “Events and pragmatism can trump ideology!”
In short, he ended this part of his talk with these words: “I think we will be going into the 2015 election pretty much the same way we went into the 2011 election – with the notable exception of the fact that the NDP is going to try to capitalize on its 2011 success and the Liberals will try to recapture their position as the Official Opposition should they fail to take power. At this stage, it’s hard to predict what the rump of the Bloc will do.”
What about partisanship?
Meighen indicated that one aspect of great concern to him in the evolution of the political parties and their elected representatives is the level of animosity that has emerged over the past decade. He mentioned this briefly in his last Senate speech, affirming that “partisanship should be a way to unite and build a party – not to split it.” Meighen considers that the problem with unbridled partisanship is that it lowers public opinion vis-à-vis the political process and leads to disengagement.
A study carried out by Samara Canada, an organization working to improve political and civic engagement, showed that the decline in political engagement in this country is the result of direct exposure to the political process and of ignorance as to how the Canadian political system operates. The study found that it is possible for the public to regain greater confidence in the system. For this to happen, however, people need to feel that those in power will take their voices into consideration and that politics can be made relevant to their daily concerns. The study added that the only way to begin coming up with solutions to this problem is to understand the concerns of those who are feeling disengaged.
In Meighen’s view, not only do people need to be heard but also the political parties listening to them need to start respecting the political process and the voters who elected them as well as their parliamentary colleagues. “The recent trend is for the parties, and particularly the party leaders, to focus their attention on discord and negative tactics.”
The former Senator reminded his listeners that, in the past, the minority governments led by Prime Minister Pearson and, in Ontario, by Premier Davis were successful because it was possible to seek and find a middle ground. Why can’t we do the same nowadays? Or, as Davis put it one day, “It’s not hard to pick up the phone, for heaven’s sake!”
Meighen is clear on the fact that the most important duty of elected representatives is to keep the legislature running, to carry out the work required for the citizenry and to avoid always being on the lookout for reasons to trigger elections that are costly, unwelcome and unnecessary. The task of the party leaders should be to overcome divisions and bridge gaps, rather than exacerbate them, even if this may often involve saying to your own political supporters that compromises are necessary.
He added that, unless the individuals concerned decide to move forward in this direction, Canadian political parties will find themselves on the decline. “They will then be replaced by interest groups who believe that operating outside our government system is more effective than political engagement. And we don’t have to go very far to see what’s happening now. Last year’s Occupy Movement and the current Idle No More phenomenon are excellent examples of people who believe that the political parties are not hearing their concerns or that the parties are entrenched in the status quo, and that they have to work outside the system in order to be heard and advance their ideas,” he explained.
At the end of his talk, Meighen repeated to his young audience an appeal he had already made to the Senate: “I ask each of you to consider some form of political engagement, particularly involvement in a political party – of whatever stripe you choose,” he added.
By Michel Héroux
