Canada convoy protest

What Canada can learn from Ireland on citizen engagement to bolster democracy

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Perhaps most worrying, however, is the consistent trend that shows citizens are increasingly disillusioned with their democratic institutions.

Key Points:

Perhaps most worrying, however, is the consistent trend that shows citizens are increasingly disillusioned with their democratic institutions.
In the search for inspiration for methods of re-engaging citizens, Canada might look to Ireland.

Irish inspiration

Citizens’ assemblies are a form of what are known as “deliberative mini-publics,” representative samples of ordinary citizens who deliberate together and make proposals for reform.
In other words, the legitimacy of the minipopulus’s views would derive from the legitimacy of democracy itself.
In each case, the assembly’s recommendations were put to referendum, but in neither case did the referendum pass.

Irish abortion laws

In 2016, the Irish government established the first citizens’ assembly composed entirely of randomly selected citizens.
Abortion was an explosive issue in Ireland since the controversial insertion of a 1983 amendment to the country’s constitution that effectively banned abortion in most circumstances.
Nonetheless, the assembly ultimately recommended a radical liberalization of the law to allow for abortion without restriction for the first time in Irish history.

Not a silver bullet

Indeed, the Irish Citizens’ Assembly has produced recommendations on other topics that have not achieved the same — or any — uptake.
But since 2016, citizens’ assemblies have started to become part of the architecture of constitutional and policy change in Ireland.
Citizens’ assemblies are not a silver bullet — their impact depends on the appetite of politicians to implement their recommendations and many other factors.

Canadian opportunities

The Irish experience has shown that citizens are capable not only of deliberating on broad constitutional issues, but technical legislative matters too.
What’s more, citizens’ assemblies can serve a particularly important role when elected representatives have a vested interest.
Canada has so far avoided the more extreme attacks on democracy witnessed by its nearest neighbour, the United States.

Seána Glennon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

With Israel in turmoil, its 'lost boys' are helping stoke extreme right-wing nationalism

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

We witnessed it during Canada’s so-called Freedom Convoy.

Key Points:

We witnessed it during Canada’s so-called Freedom Convoy.
For many, the answer lies in an Israeli movement that actively radicalizes boys and young men in its fight for an ethno-nationalist state of Israel.
This practice is inspired and associated with the Kahanist movement and the Kach party, both banned at various points by Israel and the United States for being terrorist groups.

Street kids

Many of them have experienced traumatic home lives prior to joining these radical youth groups.
Deeply religious and spurred by a literal interpretation of the Torah, they have taken it upon themselves to create West Bank outposts that are deemed illegal by international law.
Rather, the government has further legitimized their presence in the West Bank by setting up “rehabilitation” programs and homes.

Other youth brought to the West Bank

These schools serve the youth illegally occupying these areas, but other young people from other areas are brought to the West Bank to live and attend school in these outposts.
The “rehabilitation centres” therefore not only legitimize the presence of these outposts in the West Bank, but also allow them to proliferate through their success.
They are working particularly closely with the officials in the new far-right government, several of whom have personal relationships with settlements in the West Bank, to retain the illegal occupation of the West Bank.

Channelling hatred

This unit is also considered an opportunity for “rehabilitation” for these youth to channel their hatred and violence towards Palestinians in the area into military power and intelligence.
The unit also works in the Jordan Valley, helping other youth co-opt Palestinian pastureland for their own use.

Larger strategy?

The national security minister himself — Itamar Ben-Gvir — is a settler with ties to youth in the West Bank, indicating the presence and radicalization of these young men is part of a larger strategy to conquer the land while feigning diplomacy.
Rather than receiving counselling and home placements, these boys are encouraged to use their fundamentalist teachings to support the army and government’s goal, no matter the personal toll.

Will Danielle Smith veer back to the right and towards Alberta separatism?

Retrieved on:

Thursday, June 15, 2023

With a fresh and workable majority, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is facing the choice of conforming to her moderate election stance or pushing the strategies of various quasi-separatist groups like Take Back Alberta and Project Confederation.

Key Points:

With a fresh and workable majority, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is facing the choice of conforming to her moderate election stance or pushing the strategies of various quasi-separatist groups like Take Back Alberta and Project Confederation.
If she opts to move from the centre to the far right again, controversies involving the federal government, government workers and environmentalists will ensue.
As a political scientist, former Alberta public servant, financial institution executive and university administrator and researcher, I have been watching politics in Alberta for more than 40 years.

Alberta’s economy

Without Alberta’s energy exports, Canada’s terms of trade would turn dramatically negative and force a drastic downward change in Canada’s standard of living.
Statistics Canada reports that from 1997 to 2021, Canada ran a $1.05 trillion trade surplus with the rest of the world.
During that same period, Alberta alone ran a trade surplus of $1.02 trillion with the rest of the world.
To reiterate, Alberta’s withdrawal from the Canadian federation would cause a huge drop in Canadians’ standard of living.

American control

Unlike Québec, where provincially built institutions like Caisse de Depot nurtured a francophone business class, Alberta’s key industries are controlled by American institutional investors.
Uncertainty about how Ottawa will meet its emission reduction commitments in the face of sovereigntist opposition from Alberta is a big concern for those investors.
This concern has reduced capital investment in the conventional oil and gas and oilsands sectors.

Confrontation with Ottawa

Three themes will likely be front and centre — confrontation with Ottawa, building economic and institutional fences around the province and the shrinking of the Alberta government through selective privatizations.
Smith is closely aligned with Rob Anderson, one of the principle authors of the Free Alberta Strategy.

Starving the Alberta government

Another central election promise was to amend the Alberta Taxation Protection Act that requires a referendum to institute a sales tax.
This amounts to creating an institutional framework that will starve the Alberta government.
Efforts to shrink the size of government may include the privatization of Alberta’s land titles office , which has been experiencing horrendous backlogs for years.

Compromise?

At the same time, the Liberals and the Ontario Progressive Conservatives have offered billions to promote electric vehicles.
How fiscally responsible governments can undertake these extraordinary measures of fiscal assistance to entities controlled in the U.S. or Europe is extraordinary.
With Alberta separatists inside the tent of Alberta’s UCP, 2023 will be a pivotal year for Canada’s Confederation.

Canada should look to its past and Europe for guidance on media policy — but not south

Retrieved on:

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Seventy years ago, Canadian leaders turned away from the British model of media policy that rejected advertising-supported private broadcasting.

Key Points:

Seventy years ago, Canadian leaders turned away from the British model of media policy that rejected advertising-supported private broadcasting.
While it’s gone well for a few private corporations, it hasn’t benefited the Canadian public.

Aird Commission findings

In 1928, the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting, also known as the Aird Commission, was created to consider alternative models for the future of Canadian broadcasting.
The Aird Commission found much to be alarmed about regarding radio.
As a result of its research, the Aird Commission proposed a publicly owned corporation not unlike the British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC).

Creation of the CBC/Radio-Canada

Bennett proclaimed:
“This country must be assured of complete Canadian control of broadcasting from Canadian sources.
Canada’s vast territory and multilingual character made the CBC one of the world’s most far-reaching and complex public broadcasters.
Yet the Aird Commission recommendation that private broadcasting should be fully replaced by public broadcasting never happened.

Cuts to the CBC

In 1984, the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney made significant cuts to the CBC, and those cuts increased under the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien.
Budget cuts to the CBC, often fuelled by partisan politics, have wrought havoc.
In 1990, because of further budget cuts, CBC closed down the station’s news department, spurring street protests from thousands of Windsor citizens.
A “Save Our Station” committee was formed to pressure both CBC and the Canadian government to preserve the Windsor operation.

The European way

A recent study by the European Broadcasting Union shows a strong correlation between a country’s democratic well-being and robust public service media, including online media.
Social media policy in the United States has generated echo chambers of misinformation and conspiracy and has certainly not curtailed the erosion of civic knowledge.
U.S.-based, advertising-driven social media sites designed to stoke outrage are not creating more informed Canadians.
Read more:
Canada’s legal disinformation pandemic is exposed by the 'freedom convoy'

Looking ahead

The future of advertising-driven media does not bode well for democracy.
Even Silicon Valley leaders are warning against a laissez-faire U.S. policy approach in terms of generative artificial intelligence/large language models like ChatGPT.
The American threat to Canada continues not because of U.S. power, but because Canadian leaders have not put in place policies to foster and protect Canadian democracy.

Daniel Penny's GiveSendGo campaign: Crowdfunding primarily benefits the most privileged

Retrieved on:

Thursday, June 1, 2023

A GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign has raised over $2.8 million from 57,000 donations for Daniel Penny’s legal expenses.

Key Points:

A GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign has raised over $2.8 million from 57,000 donations for Daniel Penny’s legal expenses.
While many people on the left have expressed dismay at the success of this fundraiser, GiveSendGo isn’t necessarily wrong to host it.

Violent crime ban

Penny’s fundraiser was likely created on GiveSendGo rather than the much larger and better known GoFundMe website because GoFundMe has a policy against allowing fundraisers for the legal defence of people accused of violent crimes.
In many cases these fundraisers have been enormously successful, raising hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
But helping people accused of violent crimes to defend themselves in court is a different matter.

Unfair advantage

Nonetheless, Penny’s fundraiser shows crowdfunding is a wildly unfair way of securing this and other rights.
He has benefited from the politicization of his actions and wide support on the political right, including calls to support the fundraiser from politicians like Florida Gov.
People with more privileged networks can expect better outcomes than people in positions of greater relative need.

Campaigns with no support

What this means is that crowdfunding isn’t a fair means for people accused of violent crimes to pay for their legal defence.
For every Daniel Penny or Kyle Rittenhouse, there are thousands of campaigns that get little or no public support.
Perhaps their alleged crimes are abhorrent and people would have no interest in financially supporting those accused of them.

Reputational damage

GoFundMe’s decision to ban campaigns for the legal defence of people accused of violent crimes was likely driven by reputational concerns rather than principle.
The problem is that crowdfunding operates largely as a popularity contest, distributing help in deeply inequitable ways.

Anti-government protesters are reclaiming the Israeli flag from the far-right

Retrieved on:

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Every year, on Jerusalem Day, marchers descend on Jerusalem with Israeli flags in hand and terrorize the city’s non-Jewish population.

Key Points:

Every year, on Jerusalem Day, marchers descend on Jerusalem with Israeli flags in hand and terrorize the city’s non-Jewish population.
As evidenced by the Flag March, the right often uses national symbols centred around the flag.
But in just a few short weeks of protest, Israeli pro-democracy activists managed to make the flag switch sides.

Claiming the flag

The most striking visual element of the protests is the overwhelming presence of Israel’s national flag, practically drowning out all other symbols.
Protesters report they no longer feel alienated by the flag and fly it proudly, while right-wing figures are calling on their supporters to not give up on the flag.
The association between the flag and anti-reform dissent had grown so strong that police refused to grant a licence to protesters on Independence Day unless they promised not to fly the flag.

Flags as protest symbols

Movement leaders organized to make Israeli flags available to demonstrators at major protest sites.
Shikma Schwartzman-Bressler, one of the protest movement’s leaders, told Israeli newspaper Haaretz:
“Our activity is having an effect.
These symbols are imbued with meaning by social movements during times of protest and continue to resonate long after the protest has subsided.
Israel is experiencing an open public debate over who gets to claim national symbols, which national symbols are represented, who gets to speak for the Israeli public and who is included in that public.
The Israeli and Canadian cases demonstrate how battles over meaning aren’t limited to new or obscure symbols.