The Constituency Project
12:07pm
Friday, 16th April 2004
When we think of political leadership, we tend to think to the top of the tower, to the king of the castle. But high politics are under pressure, unable the reverse the erosion of public trust and the decline of formal participation through voting and party membership. The problem is legitimacy and academics who have wrestled with this dilemma - popularly referred to as the 'democratic deficit' - paint a picture of the 'executization' of parliamentary politics.
No where is this more true then in Canada, where the new prime minister Paul Martin has declared it his mission to reverse this deficit through a programme of democratic reform.
His agenda focusses on procedures in the House and the power available to the individual MP. But what if he's got it wrong, and further procedural reforms to the apex or centre of power aren't the answer? What if, instead, we need to look to the periphery, to the root system of parliament where individual MPs connect to their communities?
This is the hypothesis behind The Constituency Project, a cross-country tour that will begin this autumn, visiting more than one-third of Canada's 308 local parliamentary offices. This unprecedented study ' the first national health check of this vital civic infrastructure ' will seek to better understand the role of the federal constituency system and imagine how constituency offices can become more active sites for public service provision, civic engagement and dialogue.
When we think of political leadership, we tend to think to the top of the tower, to the king of the castle. But high politics are under pressure, unable the reverse the erosion of public trust and the decline of formal participation through voting and party membership. The problem is legitimacy and academics who have wrestled with this dilemma - popularly referred to as the 'democratic deficit' - paint a picture of the 'executization' of parliamentary politics.
No where is this more true then in Canada, where the new prime minister Paul Martin has declared it his mission to reverse this deficit through a programme of democratic reform.
His agenda focusses on procedures in the House and the power available to the individual MP. But what if he's got it wrong, and further procedural reforms to the apex or centre of power aren't the answer? What if, instead, we need to look to the periphery, to the root system of parliament where individual MPs connect to their communities?
This is the hypothesis behind The Constituency Project, a cross-country tour that will begin this autumn, visiting more than one-third of Canada's 308 local parliamentary offices. This unprecedented study ' the first national health check of this vital civic infrastructure ' will seek to better understand the role of the federal constituency system and imagine how constituency offices can become more active sites for public service provision, civic engagement and dialogue.
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