Contemplating
Governance
Some
defining propositions.
Partisanship should never be taken to the point of detriment to
our country, our way of life or our solidarity.
There is nothing that
generosity is unable to cure.
We need to support people on their way to the middle class and
beyond.
The
very best social program is a vibrant economy.
People deserve a clear
statement of intent from the government, and to know if that intent is being
exercised as communicated, rather than being fed spin.
It is time to redefine
PROGRESSIVE to include enterprise AND an open market,
progressive values in concert with a vibrant market economy is humanity’s
greatest opportunity.
We need to increase the
volume and velocity of information flowing to our young people so they can
close the applied science gap.
People have a charter right
to CHOOSE, choice in how they manage their lives and their family’s lives,
choice in how they worship, choice in how and what their children learn, choice
in how to manage their health and choice in their life cadence.
In Canada, people speak of the
two solitudes, solitudes that have evolved out of English and French influences.
There really are many “solitudes”,
Canada has unmatched natural
beauty and biodiversity; it needs to be protected. Canada can be a world leader
in building a clean economy. Goals related to a clean economy and environmental
protection can occur in concert with a vibrant economy that includes,
resource extraction and responsible fossil fuel use.
Regulatory processes in
The world has become increasingly precarious, and the only thing that can be done is to assess risks and prepare.
Canada is a wealthy country, yet we are unprepared. We need to move
aggressively to prepare by hardening our institutions and infrastructure and
properly preparing our population and then drawing on the
population’s various skill sets. This is particularly true for our military and
civil defence capabilities – we need deterrence, public health, and disaster
preparedness.
Institutions in Canada have
become ineffective in many
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE BOOK
Purpose
As a keen observer of government, I’ve spent a lot of time and effort
studying governance, policy, and economics to understand how to be effective at
governing. When an issue arises, I think the issue through and then design a
policy response contextualized to my understanding of the law, specifically the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other related factors. My process is free
from political partisanship or reflection on affected interest groups. I simply
want the best governance solution for a given jurisdiction. This gives a
pristine view of what is optimal, a clean unfettered solution.
I then observe the government as it addresses the same issue. I watch as
the political process (partisanship) distorts the issue first, then the
solution. I watch special interest groups distort the issue to move policy away
from the “best policy” for the whole, to a policy that serves their interests.
More often than not, I witness policy that is far less than optimal and fails
to meet its objectives.
There is a reality inherent in our modality of governance, that reality
is certain cohorts in society can lobby the government more effectively than
others. This reality effects a number of ills such as regulatory capture,
entrenches and exacerbates inequities, misdirects government resources, effects
institutional stagnation, or worse, institutional decadence, obstructs and
distorts market function, retards national (jurisdictional) productivity and
retards the absorptive capacity of governments and society at large.
Accountability is the most critical element in the operation of any
organization. In business, the accountability loop is clear – there is a given
business activity, there are a set of metrics and indicators – there is an
accounting process and controls. These are monitored over appropriate time
frames and provided to the executive in a timely manner to drive the
decision-making process. What is in place in our governments lacks this crisp
accountability function, and what is in place is totally ineffective. More
importantly, however, is that absent crisp reporting, the political process
perpetuates flawed policy.
As I observe government action “short-termism” raises its head in almost
every area of endeavour that the government undertakes. It is the case that the
solution horizon to any given governance challenge far exceeds the election
cycle. This reality, in concert with the desire for differentiation between the
various “governing” political parties, results in governments pursuing quick
solutions so they can take credit within a given election cycle or an incoming
government simply resending legislation for political purposes. Further,
short-termism frustrates preparedness, there is very little pork barrel
opportunity in being prepared for disasters, properly informing, and educating
the populace or building an effective national defence program – they are all
extremely important, however. There is no area of governance more negatively
affected by short-termism than foreign policy. Canada, and the west generally,
have failed to take a concerted and long-term track on foreign relations and we
are paying a massive price in life and treasure for our tardiness and
fickleness.
The core values of society must come to expression in a clear and
concise narrative. The narrative feeds the creed of a nation and builds the
culture of a people. Shaping that narrative is critical to the stability of a
nation. The narrative must stand the test of time and it must resonate with the
population. Most importantly, it must serve the nation. Canada’s narrative, and
the West's generally, is fragmented. It has been run through a shredder
consisting of polarizing political discourse, thought silos facilitated by new
technologies, foreign actors with deviant intent and the emergence of cancel
culture.
There is no clear distinction, I believe, between the government and the
economy. The economy is the substrate of governance and governance can enhance
or destroy the economy. Optimizing the harmonics between the two is a delicate
process. Governance is essentially an exercise in behavioural economics. Many
in government lack an understanding of relevant economic imperatives, while
others see the economy as antithetical to a good society. No matter where you
are in the world, under what type of government – supply and demand are in
play, supply and demand and the full basket of economic laws are as real as
gravity.
One points out all these challenges and the reader is likely to be of
the impression that the author is anti-government or sees scant opportunity for
the government to improve. The crux of governance is that good policy does good
things and bad policy does bad things. As problematic as effecting good
governance is, in Canada and many of our western counterparts, we are sitting
at the pinnacle of human existence. What has gotten us here is a market economy
and social activism that finds expression in government policy. It is odd to
consider that society at large does not fully appreciate how miraculous the
market and democracy are, the importance of the rule of law as it relates to
human rights, and how fragile it all is. The forces of entropy are omnipresent
and lurking to challenge order every second of every day. Therefore, it is
critical that these forces are brought into resolution so they can be
effectively confronted.
I quake at the prospect that our generation’s failure to maintain the world order handed to us by the great generation. I quake when I see governance heading down a warn path of error, absent an aft glance at history where the answers reside. I quake at the prospect that we’ll meet with a violent world due to government’s indifference to critical issues like the cause of freedom and the cause of peace. If we continue to error, as we are doing in many ways, the people making the errors, people who have lived through peace and prosperity never experienced before in human history – will leave in our wake a place of deprivation for our grandchildren, or worse, our grandchildren will find themselves with a rifle in their hands. I put pen to paper in this book to perhaps effect a ripple in a pond that might grow a wave of influence, moving us to a place of good and reason and peace and prosperity.
