"The chain of accountability, from voters to MP, from MP to prime minister and cabinet ministers, from ministers to the heads of government departments and agencies, and from senior civil servants to front-line managers to their employees, has broken down," Donald Savoie
I have been working my way through a couple of interesting studies and books on the need for a reexamination of our dysfunctional Parliamentary system of governance. I am a firm believer in the Westminister tradition. It has worked fairly well. However, reform is needed to right parliament. There needs to be a better system of checks and balances between the executive and parliament.
A couple of texts that make for interesting reading for me so far this summer are David Smiths "The People's House of Commons: Theories of Democracy in Contention", Donald Savoie's "Court Government and the Collapse of Accountability in Canada and the United Kingdom" and the Parliament We Want, prepared by Graham Fox and the Library of Parliament.
Partisanship has hi-jacked the select committee process through the past two minority governments. The committees do not seem to have the best possible approach or good public administration at heart. Instead political animals are using the committees to further agendas. All party consensus does not exist.
There needs to be more accountability for managing government. The passing of the buck between "High-level bureaucrats" and political actors has eroded accountability to the point where no one seems to accept responsibility when things go wrong (Cancer tests, sponsorship scandal). The roles and responsibilities of institutions and individuals needs to rethought and clarified through legislation. Career public servants should not enter the political debate or be drawn into it. They are not in a position to defend themselves and often are used as scapegoats by politicians who are are refusing to be accountable for policy directions.
Changes is needed. Desperately. The status quo is no longer sustainable. It is time we found a way to hold politicians and the structures accountable.




