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Chapter 9. Participation and Engagement
- University of Ottawa Press
- Chapter
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Chapter 9 Participation and Engagement The main focus of the preceding chapter was the need for rethinking how accountability is understood and practised in terms of the internal governance environment of the public sector-and how this environment responds and reports to the public. In contrast, this chapter emphasizes the external governance environment —and the manner in which the public perceives democracy today as well as its role in contributing to it. Accordingly, this chapter seeks tofurther the debate on how our political institutions should evolve in order to adapt to the more digitally connected, informed, and participative parametersshaping the authority and actions of government. The main contours of an e-democratic course are sketched out, drawing at times from experiments, reforms, and studies under way in other jurisdictions. Building on many tenets introduced in Chapter 8, the first half of this chapter is largely concerned with parliamentary democracy as it applies federally and provincially. Section 9.1 summarizes the argument that 'Parliament' is no longer alone, making the case for reframing public accountability toward more participatory and shared orientations. Section 9.2 then examines the casefor a renewed emphasis on citizenship to not only empower the citizenry to expect more direct input (as is often the case today) but also shape political participation as a collective responsibility. Finally, in building on thesefoundational pieces, section 9.3 sketches a template for the emergence of e-democracy by both drawing on the most useful evidence emergingfrom experimentation elsewhereand laying out the main challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for governments in Canada. 9.1 Parliament Is No LongerSupreme There is merit in the view that Parliament as an institution must be strengthened if it is to once again play an effective role in scrutinizing government activity. Moreover, the role of political parties is also a central variable that merits further attention, and both ofthese issues are 230 E-GOVERNMENT IN CANADA addressed below. Morefundamental,however, is the need to formally reframe Parliament's role away from serving as the exclusive agent for exercising public accountability (in its representational capacity) toward a shared mindset where Parliament (ora provinciallegislature) acts in concert with the citizenry in new ways. The underlying difference is in the premise that the present era requires a form of public accountability based on more than just representational oversight: direct engagement is also a determinant of legitimacy and effectiveness. Whereas parliamentary democracy has functioned as an indirect, representational system in which the citizenry is largely relegated to the role of electing its representatives (and subsequently deferring to their judgment), publicaccountability today implies a more direct engagement between both the governing executive and the public on the one hand and the legislative branch and the public on the other. Both such interrelationships must be addressed —along with how the legislativebranch then functions to hold the executiveto account— in order for a meaningful agenda of democratic reform to emerge in a complementing manner to changes in accountability mechanisms within the executive. Indeed, the public and the legislature share a common prerequisite to enhance their roles, both separately and with one another: information in a more timely, objective,and usable manner than is now the case. Doing sorequires a digital infrastructure to both manage information and orchestrate its dissemination with parliamentarians and the citizenry (asdiscussed in Chapter 8),much as it also requires an e-government focus that extends beyond the realm of providing 'service/ Without question, the chronology and strategic focus of egovernment to date have primarily emphasized better service by the executive to the public (therebyintroducing the citizen as clientvariant of performance accountability, albeit with limited results). Those in the governing executive have been far less interested in mobilizing resources to enhance the digital stature of the legislative branch, and for the most part parliamentarians have done little to draw attention to this neglect (despite some notable exceptions at all levels1 ). At the same time, much of the focus on performancereporting—particularly the potential for doing so online —has similarly emphasized a direct explanatory link from the executive to the citizenry. [54.235.6.60] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 06:28 GMT) PARTICIPATION AND ENGAGEMENT 231 When citizens or stakeholders seek information on government activities, the tendency is to visit the websites of government departments and agencies; if more objective or even opinionated assessments are preferred, then a variety of independent bodies, both inside and outside the parliamentary domain, present themselves (the auditor general, officers of Parliament, think tanks, NGOs...