Search for gravity center in Canadian politics - Winnipeg Free Press

Democracy needs a gravity center.

In the 10th grade, my chemistry teacher approached me on the first day of the course and told me that I had to play football if I was expecting a good note. Of course, this was a language in the cheek, which I understood, but I signed up.

I hated every minute. However, the coach offered a life lesson: “Greg, if you want to do an approach, target the belly button. No one is never moving away from their belly button. It is the center of gravity. “

Democracy needs his belly button or as the late Charles Krauthammer wrote in Washington Post For more than seven years ago, “guards cannot contain Trump.”

Guards in Democrats are the norms and institutions that resist political manipulation. The public service was once enjoyed by a reputation of political independence, even at the eldest levels. The norm was that when a government changed politically, the public service would be loyal to implement the directives of a new administration.

That was then, now it is.

It is difficult to identify when the appointments of the public service began to become politicized, but with the Government Brian Mulroney Federal and the administration of ED Schreyer, in a provincial way, the practice of personnel from the point of view of the public service has become rooted.

Employment preferences are not based on guard in a democracy. Instead, they are the mutually accepted laws, regulations and procedures that focus democracy.

First of all, consider the process of responsibility necessary to ensure the alignment of government expenses with the legislative authority and to make the best effect.

The general auditor for Canada and provincial auditors fulfill this vital function. At the federal level, the general auditor has a 10 -year -old appointment that inoculates this office in the political cycle. Most importantly, the AG reports to the Parliament and not to the government department, placing it under the leadership of the Parliament (and all political parties) and not only the political party that is currently forming the Government.

In the 1970s -80s, Canada had two general auditors than life, Kenneth Dye and Denis Desauttes.

Their reports on governmental mistake have become news and ammunition from the front page for the opposition. However, AG reports lose their interprences at the federal and provincial level. For example, the recent conclusions of the Auditor of Manitoba that the government involves in the Sloppy records fired from the scores, but since then they have slipped off the screen.

Without an effective opposition to government pressure for action, we lose effective control over government actions and critical governmental inaction.

Canada statistics is another essential guard of democracy. As Danial Moynihan said, “you have the right to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.” Canada statistics assure us that we all use the same facts.

Politicians have kept their terrible fingers outside Canada statistics, the notable exception being the Stephen Harper government, when it canceled the long-shaped census in 2011. Twenty percent of Canadians answer these additional questions about the census, providing critical details about demography, ethnicity and ethnicity. Socio-economic measures. Munir Sheikh, Canada’s chief statisticist, resigned to protest Harper’s movement, and many in the academic and industry have condemned.

Canada statistics are under the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. While the law of statistics regulates the agency, there is potential for it to experience political influence, as illustrated by the problem of long -term census.

More recently, in his report on alcohol consumption in Canada, he suppressed details on the consumption behavior of certain ethnic groups of fear.

The appointment of judges can be intensely political, especially for the Supreme Court. Donald Trump’s first presidency was marked by controversies in the appointments of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, which many believe in moving the court to the right.

In Canada, the appointment to the Supreme Court follows a structured path, with a short list from which the prime minister makes the final selection. All the appointments must be bilingual, with three from Quebec, three from Ontario, two from the western Canada and one from Atlantic Canada. An independent advisory council creates the short list.

As it is a political process, the choice of this advisory council is the weak connection.

Finally, consider the appointments in the Senate. The reforms introduced in 2016 have tried to increase the merit and diversity in the selection process to correct the previous, more excessive politics, with the creation of another “independent advisory council, choosing three of the five members and making the final selection from the short list. Trudeau called 90 of the 105 senators who are currently and wants to nominate 10 more to occupy vacancies before leaving.

A CBC analysis found that the senators appointed by Trudeau faced the government in 94 % of the votes. In 2024, Radio Canada reported that 66 % of senators contributed financially to the Canada Liberal Party.

If Mark Carry will become a liberal leader and prime minister, he will have a Senate according to the legislation of rubber stamps. If Pierre Pilievre will become a prime minister, he will face an obstructionist superior house that will thorough the will of the people.

Either Parliament makes appointments from the Senate, or the electorate votes these people, as many have suggested.

On a final note, in the US I noticed a massive political interference in the judicial process. Whether it is the pardon of Hunter Biden, the countless charges against dubious origin and who have been “canceled” and, most recently, the Attorney General called Pam Bondi, giving up corruption accusations against the New York Eric Adams mayor , under the argument that the argument that they would interfere with Adams’s ability to act as mayor.

He talks about creating a precedent for politicians to engage in all kinds of faults to stay in power.

I hope with fervor that the next federal government in Canada acts to strengthen the belly button of our democracy.

Gregory Mason is an associate professor of economics at the University of Manitoba.