News feature (Toronto Star)

Democracy, from the bottom up

The people of British Columbia have begun a re-examination of the basic pillars of democracy

By DANIEL GIRARD

VANCOUVER — For the first time since he arrived here from his native Guyana 30 years ago, Mo Assim is thrilled about giving the government what it wants — his opinion.

Assim, a 49-year-old independent courier-truck operator and father of two, is among the 160 British Columbians who next week will begin considering changes to the way politicians are elected in one of the most ambitious looks at democracy Canada has seen.

While electoral reform has become a buzzword for the federal government and provinces across the country, B.C.'s so-called citizens' assembly marks the first time potential solutions will be generated by ordinary people and then put to voters in a referendum.

"This is going to the heart of democracy," says Assim, who lives in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. "It's about the grassroots, checking with the commoners.

"It's not just for the rich and powerful. I'm only a courier but I get my two cents' worth."

Examining B.C.'s electoral system has been part of the provincial Liberals' policy since shortly after the 1996 election. The Liberals received the most votes province-wide but the New Democratic Party formed a second straight majority government. In 2001, the apparent unfairness of the existing system was underscored — the Liberals took 77 of 79 seats in the legislature with just 58 per cent of ballots cast.

Once in power, Premier Gordon Campbell began monthly, open cabinet meetings that are broadcast around the province and introduced fixed election dates every four years, a Canadian first.

But it's his plan to let rank-and-file voters from across B.C. have a say in how their politicians are elected that is attracting the most attention.

"It is by turning to the people and trusting the public that I believe we can re-establish the critical link between our democratic institutions and those that they are supposed to serve," Campbell told the legislature during a debate on the process.

Following his first formal meeting with Campbell, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said in November that B.C.'s citizens' assembly was "a step in the right direction.

"That's a model we'll be taking a look at," McGuinty told reporters at Queen's Park.

Last month, Attorney-General Michael Bryant announced the creation of Ontario's first democratic renewal secretariat to look at improving the political system by consulting on such things as fixed election dates, voting alternatives and involving more young people.

"We will engage the people of Ontario to ensure that our democratic traditions meet the needs of today's society and that government works for the people it serves," said Bryant, who is also the minister responsible for democratic renewal,

In B.C., the 160 members of the citizens' assembly — a man and a woman selected randomly from each of the province's 79 ridings as well as two aboriginals chosen at large to make sure that group is represented — will spend the next year looking at various voting schemes, including the current first-past-the-post one, as well as others such as proportional representation. The assembly has a budget of $5.5 million.

The members will hold study sessions in Vancouver on alternating weekends until spring and then hold more than 40 sets of public hearings across the province in May and June to discuss their initial findings. Final deliberations are set for September through November.

In December, the assembly will submit a final report to the government.

If it recommends change, the group will help draft a referendum question that will be put to voters in the next provincial election, which is already set for May 17, 2005.

The referendum would require a 60 per cent majority vote in 60 per cent of the 79 ridings.

If approved, the changes could be in place in time for the provincial election in 2009.

All political parties have endorsed the assembly and Jack Blaney, the former president of Simon Fraser University who will chair the group, believes any call for change will be embraced.

"I simply can't believe they won't abide by it," Blaney says of the government's reaction to the whole process. "There's too much investment from all sides for it not to happen.

"There's a lot of public cynicism out there but we're going to prove them wrong."

In many ways, that cynical view of politics is fuelling the drive toward electoral reform. Fewer people, especially young adults, are voting in elections because they feel their vote doesn't matter. Many of those who do exercise their franchise believe that many politicians, once in office, will break promises, put their party first and won't speak for them.

Other countries, including New Zealand, Scotland and Wales, are changing the way their politicians are elected. In Canada, Prime Minister Paul Martin has promised to overhaul the way Parliament works, making MPs more beholden to constituents than rigid party politics. In addition to B.C. and Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick are looking at changes to the way their political systems works.

But political scientist Norman Ruff of the University of Victoria says what makes the B.C.'s plan "really astonishing" is that it's being put solely in the hands of ordinary citizens — politicians who have held office at any level and candidates, plus their immediate families, are excluded.

And, Ruff says, even if after a year the assembly concludes that the current winner-take-all approach of the first-past-the-post system is the right one for the province, people will have felt more engaged.

"This is classic western populism," Ruff says. "It's a belief in the good sense of ordinary people."

Assembly members, who will be paid expenses and $150 per day they sit, range in age from 18 to 80. From a wide array of ethnic, economic and educational backgrounds, they include students and retirees, doctors, lawyers, loggers, office workers and teachers.

"We are going to make history," says Fred Beyer, 76, a retired lumber company salesman from the Vancouver suburb of Maple Ridge, who became involved "to give something back to this beautiful province."

Beyer, who is legally blind, was, like all assembly members, one of 200 people in each provincial riding randomly picked from the voters' list. They received letters asking if they wanted to participate. Eventually, the number was whittled down to about 20 people per constituency, who were then invited to meetings where the winners' names were drawn from a hat.

"It will be quite exciting," says Beyer, a grandfather who curls, bowls and plays golf. "I'm not sure we'll even come up with a different way of electing people.

"We may decide the system we have is the best we could possibly have."

Although citizens' assembly members must be on the voters' list, no formal understanding of politics was required. Over the first few weeks of meetings, the assembly will compare different electoral systems and consider how they would work if applied to B.C. and it will also study the ramifications of any voting system changes.

While the year-long exercise is about the political process, assembly members say one of the key things for them is being engaged in the debate and asked for their opinions.

"Even if there are no changes suggested, at least people will know that the citizens spoke," says Cherie Mostrovich, 24, of North Vancouver, a community college student in business administration. "If people know people like them took a look at this, I think they'll feel better that it wasn't just the politicians making decisions for us."

Mostrovich, who votes because she believes "if you don't, you can't complain," knows that many of her peers do not. She hopes this process will help change that.

"Young people should be more interested in these things," says Mostrovich, who is also a server in a restaurant. "If there's a change, maybe it will get them more interested."

Assim hopes the citizens' assembly will encourage all British Columbians, including his daughter and son who are both in high school, to take more of an interest in elections.

"Everyone knows that democracy is not perfect," he says. "Now, we're being given a chance to reinvent it, tweaking the process if we think that that's what's required.

"It's a gutsy move by a government because it's saying forget about the House of Lords, forget about the House of Commons, let's go and talk to the peasants for a change." 

[Reproduced with permission - Torstar Syndication Services]