30 Seconds of Democracy

By Dr. John Conway, Professor, University of Regina

Now that Harper has a majority, we are on the cusp of Canadians again learning the naked truth about our political system. It is a truth learned many times before by past generations, and then forgotten by subsequent generations: Canada is not a democracy. Despite all the propaganda and prettification we endure during our officially sanctioned self-celebrations, Canada is very undemocratic and is getting more so under Harper.
The reality is that we live in a system that combines a parliamentary dictatorship with an aristocracy of wealth. The real rulers of Canada are the capitalist class, increasingly unbridled by democratic constraints. Granted they must govern through Parliament, and hence must persuade political parties and politicians to do their bidding. Parliament remains supreme and presents a constant threat to the authority of those who rule. That’s why each election poses a degree of uncertainty; hence voters who have given up are preferred. But Parliament still remains a constant danger because each election provides a window of popular possibility, the danger that the people might be swept up and effectively enjoy that one brief second of democracy they are allowed….casting a secret ballot.
Casting a secret ballot is the one act of participation Canadians are allowed. After that moment Parliament rules and who rules Parliament rules Canada. Levels of popular support become legally and constitutionally irrelevant. No theory of democracy seriously argues that democracy means that for one brief moment, the moment of casting a ballot, the citizen lives in a democracy and that is the singular essence of democracy.
Real, living democracy is the ability to effectively participate in civil society and continuous democratic debate. We don’t have that. We don’t have a free press. We don’t have the means to organize effectively against the powerful. We are quite powerless, but for those few popular organizations we can build to battle things out between elections with the hope – always there is that glimmer of hope – that the next time we cast ballots we will be able to change things.
The world is witnessing the Arab spring, a wholly unexpected spontaneous uprising. Perhaps the harshness of four years of right wing rule will bring a democratic spring to Canada. We can call it the Harper spring, as we bring him down and replace his regime with something closer to the will of the majority of Canadians. Something closer to a true democracy.