A Reflective Moment

-------- CIVIL SOCIETY... MILLENIA IN THE MAKING ---------

Reflection was made for a sunny Saturday morning in the midst of spring ... and so this morning, dear reader, I would ask that you indulge me for a moment.

Of late, I've been thinking more and more about the society that my children and grandchildren appear set to inherit. It's at these times that I am filled with both exhilaration and absolute terror. Exhilaration at the prospect of the continued development of a better society, fear prompted by the apparent lack of progress in our thinking about how to improve our society and what I see as movement away from the hard-won improvements gained by previous generations.

My immediate ancestors included Rossignols who settled along the south shore of Nova Scotia in the 1600s, Frasers who fought at Louisbourg and on the Plains of Abraham with the British, Geurettes and Cayers who fled the oppressive monarchy of France in the early 1700s.

They, like generations before and since, moved to and settled in communities that provided civil and personal liberties and opportunities. Our present Canadian rights and those that distinguish Canada from other places on this planet have evolved over all those years and before even the Magna Carta creating a society steeped in principles of ethical behaviour, fair play, common courtesy, shared responsibilities and noble causes. It has encouraged and protected civil rights and public participation in our governance and developed mechanisms to resolve private as well as public disputes. It isn't perfect.... but with continued effort we can aim to make it better for ourselves and our offspring.

In recent years I have seen a steady erosion of the basic institutions and practices that I think are key to the continued improvement in our civil environment. Let me share of few of my observations and concerns.

1. The concentration of power in the offices of Prime Minister and Premiers in the past thirty years has produced a power base without meaningful checks and balances that Cabinet at one time provided along with the House of Commons and the House of Assembly. Now, the House of Assembly meets fewer days than most Nova Scotians have vacation days.

2. In our society, the Federal Senate was originally designed to provide regional geographic representation to each of the Provinces. Over the years that system has been corrupted because senators are appointed by the political party in power and senators no longer feel accountable to the geographic region they are supposed to represent. A good example is the Trudeau era appointee for the South Shore who doesn't even try to make believe he lives here. Does anyone even know his name and how much longer he can serve? Or what he's done for this region?
Provincially, we no longer have a Senate so there will continue to be a concentration of power in large urban centres. Of course the same applies to the House of Commons as Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Halifax and other large urban centres send more and more people to the House and rural communities send fewer.

3. Not that long ago, public servants saw themselves as serving the public first and politicians second. We know that is less and less the case today. But I suggest to you that the problem is even greater than simply a shift of allegiances. It seems that nothing gets done today without a committee, a task force, a project team, a stakeholder, an interdepartmental or inter-governmental group deciding and making recommendations about every aspect of our lives. Of course the nameless, faceless bureaucrats hiding behind these groupings of mandarins and civil servants share no blame for errors in judgement or action. I remember not that long ago when people got paid the big bucks for making decisions and living with the consequences. Not so anymore. Find me a public servant who takes responsibility now.

4. And now, we have the worst of all creations: groups funded by taxpayers dealing with public business at "arms length" from politicians and civil servants and with no mechanism for the public to seek or demand accountability, performance or fairness. Of course if such a public group could deny any knowledge of wrongdoing, that would be the ultimate travesty would it not? Moreover, if such a group, when pushed by the public to pay attention and assume responsibility for the organization's actions, could restrict where its meetings were held, refuse to admit the public to its deliberations except its selection of invited guests... wouldn't that be the final straw...... no. The final straw would be if the deck were stacked and a particular camp within the organization imposed their will against the wishes of the public and a significant minority of the group... that would be the ultimate travesty ..... THE TYRANNY OF MAJORITY.

QUESTION: IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BELONG TO SUCH A GROUP, WHY WOULD YOU?