Lori Turnbull
Lori Turnbull is a senior adviser at the Institute on Governance.
Lori Turnbull is a senior adviser at the Institute on Governance.
This bill would modernize and protect Canada’s electoral processes by introducing new ways of combatting threats of foreign interference, disinformation, dark money, ballot manipulation, and the misuse of personal data. It’s not perfect. But it’s a worthwhile first step that parliamentarians should support.
There’s very little—if anything—stopping the new NDP leader from making it the Avi Lewis Party and infusing it with the values and priorities that he holds dear, just as former prime minister Justin Trudeau rebuilt the Liberal Party in his own image.
The bottom line is that, even in the current moment of significant disruption and uncertainty in the world and in Canada’s relationship with the United States, our political parties are still not seeking opportunities to work together for the sake of the public.
A functional relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government is crucial to the country’s future. To put it bluntly: we have no time for partisan games. We need the legislature to do its job of holding the government to account.
Governance is about relationships as much as it is about rules and structures. The legislation is only the framework. So far, there has been much unity around the first ministers’ table. But time will tell how durable this solidarity is and whether it can have a positive effect on Canada’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples.
The changes on the front benches provide a window of opportunity to set a more constructive and healthy culture as Parliament reconvenes. Here’s hoping.
All in all, both Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre promise fiscal restraint, but they have very expensive priorities and are planning to run deficits. Time will tell whether how much of a ‘change’ the next prime minister is from the last one.
It is not clear yet whether it will be Carney or Pierre Poilievre who will lead Canada in the longer term. But one thing is for certain: whoever the prime minister is, their approach to multilevel governance and their relationships with the premiers will matter significantly.
No matter who wins the next election, the government will need a bureaucracy that is politically savvy and quick to adapt to evolving situations and challenges.
Time will tell whether Justin Trudeau’s Senate reforms will change this country’s governance in an enduring way. Hopefully, future leaders will recognize the need to engage Canadians in a meaningful talk about democratic reform.
Challenges like the deficit, threats from the incoming U.S. president, and strain on our federation will require the public service to adapt and be flexible.
The polarization between political parties and their agendas creates a unique challenge for the nonpartisan public service. When everything is black and white, binary, and dichotomous, neutrality becomes difficult to define.
There will likely be a change in government in the near future, and a new laser focus on fiscal restraint. This will undoubtedly drive a conversation on the role of government: what should it be doing, and what can be better—and more cost-effectively—done by others?
If the polls are to believed, the Conservatives are poised to form government following the next election. They have already indicated their dismay about the size of the public service, and questioned its competence as an institution to deliver services to Canadians.
If there’s a change in government, the ball will be in the court of the senior public service to show that they deserve the positions they’ve occupied by delivering on a new agenda.
