Setting the New Progressive Agenda

Setting the New Progressive Agenda June 2015 Editor-in-Chief: Robert Asselin Production Manager: Alex Paterson Special Editorial & Production Guidance: Dr. Don Lenihan and members of the Canada 2020 Advisory Board Canada 2020, 210 Dalhousie Street, Ottawa, ON, K1N7C8, Canada / Published in Ottawa, Canada Canada 2020 is Canada’s leading, independent, progressive think-tank working to redefine the role of the federal government for a modern Canada. We produce original research, host events, and start conversations about Canada’s future. Our goal is to build a community of progressive ideas and people that will move and shape governments. canada2020.ca Table of contents Introduction / 04 by Tim Barber Public Policy in the 21st Century/ 08 by Don Lenihan and Robert Asselin An Agenda for Democratic Reform / 20 by Robert Asselin / Foreword by Donald Savoie Rebuilding Public Trust in Government / 52 by Don Lenihan and Carolyn Bennett / Foreword by the Hon. Deb Matthews Child Benefit Spending in Canada / 82 by Lauren Jones, Mark Stabile, and Kevin Milligan / Foreword by Jennifer Robson The Case for a Carbon Tax in Canada / 98 by Nicolas Rivers / Foreword by Tom Rand Skills & Higher Education in Canada / 136 by Daniel Munro / Foreword by Tom Pitfield Time for a National Infrastructure Plan for Canada / 182 by John Broadhead, Jesse Darling, and Sean Mullin / Foreword by David Dodge Strengthening Canadian Intelligence and Security Accountability / 220 by Wesley Wark / Foreword by Anne McLellan Privacy Protection in the Federal Public Service / 244 by Chantal Bernier / Foreword by Michael Geist A Canadian Foreign Policy for the Future / 268 by Roland Paris / Foreword by Michael Kergin, Former Canadian Ambassador in the United States 086 Introduction This book is about engaging progressives to think about the country they want to see in 2020 and in the years ahead. It is about laying out concrete and feasible public policy prescriptions for the next decade. As millennials take the stage, the opportunity to change and redefine how we approach some of the issues facing the country is for us to seize. We are very excited to introduce innovative and new ideas in the public discussion. Put together, they offer a compelling case for a progressive vision for the years ahead. We live in challenging times. Around the world and in Canada, globalization has forced us to change the way we think about public policy. Income inequality, infrastructure, climate change, security, privacy, democratic renewal are all issues of national importance but they have important international ramifications that require nation states to work together to address them. We can no longer conceptualize them in silos - they are linked to each other. Canada 2020 has been at the forefront of this ongoing discussion. Since 2006, we’ve hosted more than ninety events across the country on topics of relevance for decision-makers and citizens. The response has been amazing. People genuinely and persistently believe government can play a meaningful and positive role in the 21st century. We believe this book will offer them compelling reasons to be optimistic about our collective future. I want to thank Robert Asselin, our new Vice President of Policy and Research, for being the driving force behind this project and Alex Paterson, our Communications and Program Coordinator, for making it happen. I also want to thank our board of advisors for their continuing support and insights. We look forward to the next phase of the discussion and we hope to see you at one of our events. Sincerely, Tim Barber Co-Founder, Canada 2020 808 Public Policy in the 21st Century Dr. Don Lenihan, PhD Senior Associate, Policy & Engagement at Canada 2020 Robert Asselin Vice President, Policy & Research at Canada 2020 “ The process around policymaking is now just as important as the issues themselves” 0810 Public Policy in the 21st Century In the traditional Westminster parliamentary system, policymaking was largely a partnership between the public service and politicians. Public servants were experts on policy and provided the government of the day with options and advice for solving issues. The government then made decisions based on its mandate and the advice. It set priorities, presented solutions to the public, and shepherded them through the legislative process. Finally, the public service implemented the government’s decisions, with the politicians overseeing this work. We can call this the “traditional approach to governance.” This system worked well for much of the 20th century. But over the last few decades, new trends have emerged in Canada and around the world that are impacting on the policy process and making traditional governance increasingly ineffective: 11 • THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION: Information • GROWTH IN THE PUBLIC POLICY and communications technologies have COMMUNITY: The number of private and greatly increased the speed, complexity not-for-profit organizations within the policy and interdependence of events. Today, community has exploded. Stakeholders of more and more systems—from supply all kinds now play a very engaged role in the chains to the environmental movement— policy process and often exert great influence are organized on a global, rather than on it, both at the policy development and national, level. implementation stages. • INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF ISSUES: • CHANGING PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS: In traditional governance, policymakers Citizens today are far less deferential to drew boundaries around issues and politicians than earlier generations. They proposed solutions from within these want elected representatives to be more boundaries. Today, experts see issues accountable to them and often feel that, as as far less self-contained and far more citizens, they should have a direct say on interconnected. Issues around climate issues they care about. change, security or food production tend to form clusters—often from different policy fields—whose constituent parts interact with one another in complex and often surprising ways. Setting the new progressive agenda canada2020.ca 12 Public Policy in the 21st Century • THE RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: Social Of course, it is not just the policy process that is media are also changing the political culture, changing. The issues are also changing: though in ways that are sometimes less than clear. On one hand, they provide new • URBANIZATION: A growing proportion of ways of linking citizens into public debate. Canadians live in a handful of urban centres. On the other hand, young Canadians, who As these metropolitan areas grow, the are the biggest users of social media, are needs, expectations and concerns of the less inclined to vote, join political parties or population are changing, creating new policy participate in the political process. Studies issues, from concerns about gang violence suggest they do not relate to politics or to the need for massive new transportation traditional political institutions the same way infrastructure. as earlier generations. • DEMOGRAPHICS: Like many OECD • THE CONSTANT CAMPAIGN: Political countries, Canada has an ageing population, parties now rely heavily on political marketing which is increasing pressure on government techniques to pitch their “products”—that is, services, especially healthcare, at the same their policies—to targeted groups. This, in time it is decreasing the tax base that funds turn, requires a clear, consistent and easy- these services. to-understand message. To achieve this, parties have centralized communications • MOBILITY: People are far more mobile today to a point where today caucus members than at any time in the past. They travel are expected to follow the same script. The frequently and most will move to another city result is a simplification of the message and a at least once in their lifetime. Government polarization of debate over the issues. services may need to be modified to support this kind of mobility. 13 IMMIGRATION AND DIVERSITY: Although Canada was always defined by immigration, 1. POLICY ISSUES ARE OFTEN today immigrants are flooding in from all MORE MULTIFACETED, FAST- parts of the globe. As a result, our population MOVING AND INTERCONNECTED is among the most culturally and ethnically THAN IN THE PAST diverse in the world. Ensuring new Canadians settle into their communities is critical to the overall stability and cohesion of the country. 2.THE POLICY PROCESSES OFTEN • TERRORISM AND SECURITY: 9/11 INVOLVE MANY STAKEHOLDERS changed Canadians’ views on security. With the rise of ISIS, those concerns are surging again, including a new focus on home-grown terrorism. Countering these threats has 3. THE PUBLIC IS LESS become a high political priority. DEFERENTIAL, MORE DEMANDING AND YOUTH ARE LESS DEMOCRATICALLY ENGAGED In sum, both the policy process and the issues have changed in ways that are putting huge pressure on traditional governance, which was 4. POLITICAL DEBATE IS NOW designed for a very different world. We can MORE SCRIPTED, POLARIZED AND summarize the challenges as follows: ACRIMONIOUS These four bullets provide the basis for what we believe should be a different kind of policy debate, one that focuses not only on solutions to the issues, but also on how policy is made and implemented. In our view, the process around policymaking is now as important as the issues, as the following reflections show. Setting the new progressive agenda canada2020.ca 14 Public Policy in the 21st Century Complexity and the Risks of Policymaking We said that policymakers

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