Democracy in Canada: The Disintegration of Our Institutions

by Donald J. Savoie

Canada's representative democracy is confronting important challenges. At the top of the list is the growing inability of the national government to perform its most important namely mapping out collective actions that resonate in all regions as well as enforcing these measures. Others include Parliament's failure to carry out important responsibilities, an activist judiciary, incessant calls for greater transparency, the media's rapidly changing role, and a federal government bureaucracy that has lost both its way and its standing.Arguing that Canadians must reconsider the origins of their country in order to understand why change is difficult and why they continue to embrace regional identities, Democracy in Canada explains how Canada's national institutions were shaped by British historical experiences, and why there was little effort to bring Canadian realities into the mix. As a result, the scope and size of government and Canadian federalism have taken on new forms largely outside the Constitution. Parliament and now even Cabinet have been pushed aside so that policy makers can design and manage the modern state. This also accounts for the average citizen's belief that national institutions cater to economic elites, to these institutions' own members, and to interest groups at citizens' own expense.A masterwork analysis, Democracy in Canada investigates the forces shaping the workings of Canadian federalism and the country's national political and bureaucratic institutions.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Canada, Government, Political Science, Philosophy, History

504 pages, Hardcover

Published September 2, 2019

Reviews

[Mark Lisac · Rating 3 out of 5]

A more apt title might have been Lament for a Notion. The notion is the vision of a Canadian government designed to give more influence to the less populated regions, especially Atlantic Canada. The Atlantic provinces could stand to have more respect and influence (the West is in a more ambiguous situation). But the repetition of the overall theme and the way Savoie stretches it to cover many aspects of Canadian political life become tiresome. Still, there is plenty to like here: he forces a skeptical reader to articulate dissenting arguments; he succinctly reviews the background history, which will help many readers; he identifies and dissects a number of potentially remediable ills in Canadian government.
Dozens of questions and comments arise. He mentions counters to his own arguments infrequently and he almost invariably presents only such information as will support his views, raising suspicions about what may have been left out. A more thorough comparison with Australia, Germany, and perhaps Spain and Finland could take up another whole book. While regionalism is a dominant feature of Canadian politics, there are reasons to doubt that entrenching more regionalism in the structure of government would improve things, or even that regionalism is always relevant. There's the phenomenon of any region always consisting of further sub-regions and local rivalries. Other divisions are also plainly evident: gender, ethnicity, religion, age, rural-urban differences and more; Savoie subordinates some of these and ignores others. The reality of Quebec as the driving force in regionalism and regional imbalances is implied but not tackled in full. Et cetera.

[Geoffrey Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donald Savoie has been writing on Canadian governance and public administration for over thirty years. His mastery of the subject and deep knowledge of the trends in Canadian democracy command respect. In this, his latest work which he describes as his “magnum opus”, he laments the structural inertia of our governing structures and the erosion of the key central institutions, including parliament, the cabinet, the civil service, and traditional media. We are increasingly face with governments dominated by prime ministers and their “ courtiers”. MPs are powerless and ineffectual, cabinet is a “mere sounding board”, civil servants are increasingly risk-adverse in the face of heightened media scrutiny, and the social media are often unreliable sources of reliable information due to political bias and the lack of filters to verify the information presented. A bleak picture indeed! The result is a government “ dominated by the centre”—whether it is the PMO or the PCO in Ottawa, or by the concerns of Ontario and Quebec at the expense of the regions of Canada.
Savoie makes compelling arguments about the health of our democracy. He raises many important debates about the future of our country and its governance. My only quibble is that the book could have been more rigorously edited. There are sections that are repetitive that could have been shortened without weakening Savoie’s arguments. But this book is thoughtful and deserves our attention.

[Brendon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the depth that Savoie approaches his analysis of our public institutions as well as the inclusion of our regional historical nuances. What I take away front this book is that we need a prime minister who is willing to expend immense political capital to create positive change that will likely not be realized until after their departure. Based on Savoie’s description of our current state - I sincerely hope this happens soon.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Repetitive and in need of a good edit, but he makes some good points (though sometimes I felt like he could have argued them better). Tone can also be a bit off putting at some points - he comes across a bit self righteous, even obnoxious at times… (For example, when asked for evidence to support his position, “well provide evidence to support YOUR position” is not an argument…)

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot and have a better understanding of some of the workings of the government in Canada, what the institutions are based on, and the frustrations felt in various areas and sectors.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got ¾ of the way through and gave up. First DNF of lockdown 2020.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important if not flawed book to read prior to covid 19, it should now be essential reading to understand the failures of the government and slide into despotism.

Savoie puts into words the negative malaise that is often felt throughout Canada.

From the unaccountability that rises from hyphenated (federal-provincial) politics.

To the ever growing bureaucratic state that has invested interest in preventing any government from cutting its size.

To the effect of regionalism never quite being dealt with effectively and treating the Canadian economy like a zero-sum game that nearly always favours Ontario and Quebec at the expense of other parts of the country.

The centralization of power in the hands of the Prime Minister and bureaucratic state has shown the ugly side of the "Liberal" state that rejects discussion and free exchange of ideas and now ruled by a uni-party that engages in an elaborate theatre production to pretend that Canada is no longer an accountable democracy.

What solutions could we implement? Most of Savoie's solutions are just "democracy harder" insisting that if we do it more the policies will work this time.

His best recommendations is to gut the bureaucracy that everyone but the swamp will agree with. That and decentralize some of the bureaucracy. Otherwise some possible measures could be

1. Senate as a regional elected body similar to the states could possibly help with the regional crisis. (somewhat suggested by Savoie)

2. Removal of party perks or status to eliminate the racket of party politics and allow for MPs to represent their constitutes. (suggested in some measure by Savoie)

3. Move towards a more republic federal system that empowers premiers (yes contrary to the Founding fathers who give little thought to a growing country outside of their little domain).
We need a system that brings back accountability The Federal government should deal with federal issues and get out of the way of Provinces.

4. How is Ontario effected if New Brunswick gets a contract to build Light Armoured Vehicles for Germany? This zero sum thought needs to be removed to allow for all regions in Canada to thrive.

5. End all public funding to media full stop. The media has failed their role preferring to be bought off and bribed then holding the government accountable. (Savoie does not understand Canadian landscape unfortunately)

6. End transfer payments from provinces (phase out) or at very least set a fixed amount. This bailing out of bad behaviour does not help provinces and if given more provincial autonomy it can help ensure provinces are stronger partners. (This causes zero-sum game and regional wedge politics by politicians)

7. Implement regulatory limits or bureaucratic limits, for ever new regulation 2/3 must be removed and for every new bureaucratic 2/3 bureaucratic positions must be removed.

In perhaps the worst chapter, Chapter 11: "The Media: The Lost Institutions"

Savoie makes the same tired and lame excuses of "google and facebook stealing revenue" or pointing to a golden age of journalism when Walter Duranty covered up for the soviet union's famines or the glowing praise of Hitler and Mao. Journalism has always a bias problem. Most papers were bought or at least used by politicians to spin their message. The internet struck a blow at news media because there was a blow to be struck a bias and credibility problem of shaping discourse rather than reporting. Savoie and his sources appear to lament the loss of power and strategize for regaining.

We're there better times were journalists were muckrakers? Sure. Is the Internet all good? No of course not. But let us not have the "year zero" mindset or golden days with low resolution glasses. There are trade-offs and there is no putting the genie back in the bottle. CBC it self has been forced to admit that it lied twice during the Freedom Convoy. These lies were used to implement the Emergencies Act by Trudeau. But they have an Editor so thats okay? If (and that is a big if) these organizations ever had any respect they are mere skin-suits of their former selves with lazy hyper partisan propagandists that hate Canadians. No Canadian should be forced to pay the bills for organizations that actively hate them.

But most egregious is the subchapter about "Right-Wing Media: No Traction in Canada". The ever tired "Canada is progressive and right wing has no place here" trite as they eliminate all possibility of a fair contest. He then attacks Rebel news using a pathetically bad citation for "Inside Rebel News" National Post August 21, 2017. Which does not exist unless the deceptive stealth edits of National post have changed the story from the original title. Wait! Why would a reputable News Organization stealthy edit their article? Oh that's right a reputable news organization would not do that.

He uses the label "far-right" without defining far-right nor providing examples other than the infamous "Faith Goldy incident". Yet Savoie neglects to mention that Faith Goldy was fired for this behaviour. Rebel News by the governments own studies enjoys a much larger audience than the CBC and is growing while most "news organizations" are collapsing. So there is an audience for right wing media, Mr. Savoie just wishes there was not and attempt to smear as "Far-Right" a means to call someone a Nazi and avoid defamation suit. Why would Rebel News fire Faith Goldy?

No, instead of Liberal values Mr. Savoie for some reasons prefers the skin-suit bias conspiracy theories of National Post like objecting to mass immigration is racist or opposition to M103 that did not define islamophobia is islamophobia. Or preferring cultural assimilation rather than the failed policies of multiculturalism or "Diversity is our strength" is genocide. Or questioning the guilt complex of the Murder and missing indigenous women report to blame "oppressor culture" and colonialism. You know if you oppose to progressive values you are a bigot according to the skin-suit "Liberal" progressives.

Mr. Savoie, why are you allowing Thought Stoppers (Far-Right) and un-trustworthy liars to control your thoughts? Let us all point out the racists (like Conspiracy Race Theory that is Race Marxism by progressives) and root them out. Or is that the right type of racists?

You missed the important lesson that could be learned Mr. Savoie, when you let the Regime divide you the Regime wins. You get so close to understanding. Maybe the Freedom Convoy helped wake you up if you saw the most peaceful protest in history.

[Chris McCartney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Totally impartial. Could not put it down. Thanks for the recommendation Warren. Educators may want to think about making this mandatory reading. You don't have to like or dislike politics but it is beyond worth reading.

[Rennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informed and well supported critique of the weaknesses in our current form of democracy.

Some of the things we rely on to maintain a functional and fair democracy are under pressure and that is quite worrisome.

The PMO has become far too powerful with MPs and even cabinet ministers basically playing bit parts with no real ability to effect any changes that the PMO and their support system don't want. Virtually all votes are whipped meaning that even if every constituent wanted their MP to vote a certain way on an issue, chances are they would not vote that way if it conflicted with that the PMO dictated should be their vote.

Once that legislation has been enacted, with sometimes limited transparency about exactly what all was baked into that omnibus bill whipped through the HOC, there is precious little accountability after the fact.

Scary.

[Matthew Stienberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canada's institutions are sick. There is little trust amongst the public in Parliament, politicians and the public service. Parliament seems more like an assembly of trained seals who clap for their leader, while games of "whose to blame" seem more important that substantial policy. The new 24 hour media cycles disrupt any real conversation with sound bytes and an "eternal election campaign" which dilutes the attention of politicians. The decision makers are risk adverse, the systems only seem to work through inertia.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Donald J. Savoie makes an excellent case for the disruption of our systems, their failures (going all the way back to 1867) up to 2019. These problems are not insurmountable, but we ignore them at our peril.

[Shodar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some interesting points to make, some of which I would agree with and others not. But it was thought provoking, nonetheless. It's probably true that the government is very centralised and needs an improved way of representing regions, though some of the proposed solutions carry their own issues (MPs having more say in determining party leaders has led to some recent weird turnover in the Conservative Party for example).
The book also could have used a heavier editing hand - even the author started commenting on how often he was repeating himself during some chapters.

[criavolver · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me way to long to finish this book. Biggest reason? Anger. I was scared I was going to get an aneurism when reading about the Media, governing from centre & the Prime Minister’s concentration of power, the role of cabinet in modern governance & the role of the senate. I am not kidding: my blood would boil and I needed to take a break. I did finish half of the book in less than a month but the first half of the book was a struggle.

Read but be mindful of your nervous system.

[Murray Sondergard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book overall, illuminating look at what ails Canada's political institutions. Was a bit disappointed in the conclusion, which argues for the need for political will to make the needed changes, while repeatedly noting the lack of political will resident in all the Prime Ministers since Pierre Trudeau. How do we overcome this inertia?

[Russell Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

All Canadians should read this book

Although there is a lot of redundancy the points he makes are well researched and explained well. It really gives you a good idea how our government institutions are broken. Sadly I don’t know that anyone has the moral courage to fix it. Power corrupts, and once a Prime Minister gets the power he’s not at all willing to share it.

[Alex Ripley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The self-proclaimed magnum opus by the Dean of Canadian regional scholarship, Prof. Savoie. If you grew up in Ontario, you’ll read the first half of this book saying “yes, but…”, and then realize that you are part of the problem.

[Chuck Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read of recent Canadian politics....if you are a news junkie.

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

This clock got broken but still hits all the right times. Woof. Savoie is an institution, even if he has lost some of the traction that he once had - 20 years ago.

[A G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit repetitive but informative