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Fixing Canadian Democracy

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Fixing Canadian Democracy About the Fraser Institute The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian economic and social research and educational organization. It has as its objective the redirection of public at- tention to the role of competitive markets in providing for the well-being of Ca- nadians. Where markets work, the Institute’s interest lies in trying to discover prospects for improvement. Where markets do not work, its interest lies in find- ing the reasons. Where competitive markets have been replaced by government control, the interest of the Institute lies in documenting objectively the nature of the improvement or deterioration resulting from government intervention. The Fraser Institute is a national, federally-chartered, non-profit organization financed by the sale of its publications and the tax-deductible contributions of its members, foundations, and other supporters; it receives no government fund- ing. Editorial Advisory Board Prof. Armen Alchian Prof. J.M. Buchanan Prof. Jean-Pierre Centi Prof. Herbert G. Grubel Prof. Michael Parkin Prof. Friedrich Schneider Prof. L.B. Smith Sir Alan Walters Prof. Edwin G. West Senior Fellows Murray Allen, MD Prof. Eugene Beaulieu Dr. Paul Brantingham Prof. Barry Cooper Prof. Steve Easton Prof. Herb Emery Prof. Tom Flanagan Gordon Gibson Dr. Herbert Grubel Prof. Ron Kneebone Prof. Rainer Knopff Dr. Owen Lippert Prof. Ken McKenzie Prof. Jean-Luc Migue Prof. Lydia Miljan Prof. Filip Palda Prof. Chris Sarlo Administration Executive Director, Michael Walker Director, Finance and Administration, Michael Hopkins Director, Alberta Policy Research Centre, Barry Cooper Director, Communications, Suzanne Walters Director, Development, Sherry Stein Director, Education Programs, Annabel Addington Director, Publication Production, J. Kristin McCahon Events Coordinator, Leah Costello Coordinator, Student Programs, Vanessa Schneider 00TaxFacts13frntmttr.indd FIa 5/8/2003, 12:05:12 PM Research Director, Fiscal and Non-Profit Studies, Jason Clemens Director, School Performance Studies, Peter Cowley Director, Pharmaceutical Policy Research, John R. Graham Director, Risk and Environment Centre, Kenneth Green Director, Centre for Trade and Globalization Studies, Fred McMahon Director, Education Policy, Claudia Rebanks Hepburn Director, Ontario Policy Studies, Mark Mullins Senior Research Economist, Niels Veldhuis Ordering publications To order additional copies of this book, any of our other publications, or a cata- logue of the Institute’s publications, please contact the book-sales coordinator: via our toll-free order line: 1.800.665.3558, ext. 580; via telephone: 604.688.0221, ext. 580; via fax: 604.688.8539; via e-mail: [email protected]. Media For media information, please contact Suzanne Walters, Director of Communi- cations: via telephone: 604.714.4582; via e-mail: [email protected] Website To learn more about the Institute and to read our publications on line, please visit our web site at www.fraserinstitute.ca. Membership For information about membership in The Fraser Institute, please contact the Development Department: The Fraser Institute, 4th Floor, 1770 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6J 3G7; or via telephone: 604.688.0221 ext. 586; via fax: 604.688.8539; via e-mail: [email protected]. In Calgary, please contact us via telephone: 403.216.7175; via fax 403.234.9010; via e-mail: [email protected]. In Toronto, please contact us via telephone: 416.363.6575; via fax: 416.934.1639. Publication Editing and design by Kristin McCahon Cover design by Brian Creswick @ GoggleBox. 00TaxFacts13frntmttr.indd FIb 5/8/2003, 12:05:13 PM Fixing Canadian Democracy Fixing Canadian Democracy Edited by Gordon Gibson The Fraser Institute Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto Canada Copyright © 2003 by The Fraser Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The authors of the papers in this book have worked independently and opinions expressed by them, therefore, are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the members or the trustees of The Fraser Institute. Printed and bound in Canada. Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title: Fixing Canadian Democracy / edited by GordonGibson Papers from a conference held in Vancouver, Nov. 22, 2001 Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-88975-201-X 1. Representative government and representation—Canada— Congresses. 2. Democracy—Canada—Congresses. 3. Canada—Poli- tics and government—1993- —Congresses. I. Gibson, Gordon, 1937– II. Fraser Institute (Vancouver, B.C.) JL167.F59 2003 328.71’07456 C2003-910751-5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...........................ix About the Authors............................x Introduction .............................1 Overview Chapter 1: The Fundamentals of Democratic Reform by Gordon Gibson ......................7 Selecting Representatives Introduction ........................48 Chapter 2: A Case for Changing the Voting System and a Consideration of Alternative Systems by Nick Loenen ......................49 Chapter 3: The Failings of First-Past-the-Post by Andrew Petter .....................69 Chapter 4: Q&A for Panel 1 ................75 Empowering Representatives Introduction ........................82 Chapter 5: The Obstacles to Empowering MPs and MLAs and What It Would Take To Empower Them ....83 by Peter Dobell Chapter 6: Thoughts on Empowerment by Gary Lauk, Jack Weisgerber, and Ted White ........97 Chapter 7: Q&A for Panel 2 ...............109 Powers Reserved to the Electorate Introduction .......................116 Chapter 8: Limitations and Ambiguities by Barry Cooper .....................117 Chapter 9: The Substance of Reform by Scott Reid.......................151 Chapter 10: Q&A for Panel 3 ...............159 The BC Government’s View Introduction .......................168 Chapter 11: Reforming Government by Geoff Plant ......................169 Constitutional Constraints Introduction .......................180 Chapter 12: Limits to the Power of the People by Herbert G. Grubel ...................181 Chapter 13: Transparency, Accountability, and Access to Information by John Reid .......................201 Chapter 14: Q&A for Panel 4 ...............211 The Process for Getting There Introduction .......................218 Chapter 15: Constituent Assemblies as Vehicles for Change by Casey G. Vander Ploeg .................219 Chapter 16: Deliberative Democracy and Electoral Reform by David Elton ......................229 Chapter 17: Q&A for Panel 5 ...............237 A Concluding Note .......................239 Appendix I A Report on the Need for Certain Constitutional Change in British Columbia, and a Mechanism for Developing Specific Proposals by Gordon Gibson, Gary Lauk, Nick Loenen, and Rafe Mair ......................243 Acknowledgements I want to especially thank the John and Lottie Hecht Foundation for their initial suggestions, and they and our other sponsors for their indispensable financial assistance, and Fraser Institute Exec- utive Director Michael Walker for his unflagging support of the conference, which formed the core of this book. Our speakers and conference participants gave generously of their time, ideas, and experience. We were extremely fortunate to gather such an outstanding pool of talent, each in his or her own way very much devoted to improving our democracy. Thanks are due as well to then Fraser Institute Director of Events and Conferences Lorena Baran for looking after the logistics, Events Assistant Adele Waters for help keeping track of all the submitted papers, and especially to Publications Director Kristin McCahon for pulling together a sometimes disorderly record of proceedings into the coherent whole that follows. —GFG ix About the authors Barry Cooper, Professor of Political Science, University of Calgary Barry Cooper, a fourth generation Albertan, was educated at Shawnigan Lake School, the University of British Columbia, and Duke University, where he received a PhD in 1969. He taught at several universities in eastern Canada before moving to the Uni- versity of Calgary in 1981. He has published over 20 books and numerous articles in political science and public policy. He is a Senior Fellow at The Fraser Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His weekly column with David Bercuson in the Calgary Herald is reprinted in the Saskatoon Leader Post, the Regina Star-Phoenix, and other newspapers in the Southam chain. His articles have also appeared in the Globe and Mail and the National Post. Professor Cooper has been a guest on many radio and televi- sion programs across the country and has appeared as an expert witness before the House of Commons and in several Char- ter-based court cases. Peter C. Dobell, CM, Founding Director, Canadian Parlia- mentary Centre Peter Dobell was born in Montreal in 1927. He joined the Depart- ment of External Affairs in 1952 and served in Ottawa, Czechoslovakia (1954-1957), and in the Canadian Mission to the United Nations (1960- 1965). He resigned in 1968 in order to set up, in Ottawa, the Parliamentary Centre, an NGO dedicated to strengthening the role of Parliament. Mr. Dobell is the author of many studies and books including: Canada’s Search for New Roles; Canada in World Affairs 1971-73; Parliament and the Control of Public Expenditure commissioned by the Royal Commission on Financial Management and Accountability; Comments
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