Concluding Thoughts on the Law of Canadian Democracy

• Author: Craig Forcese - Aaron Freeman
• Pages: 544-548

544

11

Concluding Thoughts on the

Law of Canadian Democracy

How best to evaluate Canadian democracy? The answer to this question

depends on which criteria are used, and which democratic principles one

chooses to emphasize.

In keeping with the structure laid out in this book, in this concluding

chapter we examine the performance of Canadian democracy by focusing

f‌irst on the democratic selection of representatives and second on the rela-

tionship between these individuals and their unelected counterparts. We

then conclude with a few thoughts on the relationship between law and

democracy.

A. THE DEMOCRATIC SELECTION OF OFFICIALS

Canadian electoral law is, in signif‌icant ways, the envy of many nations

around the world. Compared to other countries, we have reasonably clean

elections and a stable system of governance. Changes to political fundrais-

ing rules now limit the inf‌luence of wealthy interests in elections and im-

prove transparency in electoral f‌inance, although gaps remain in several

areas, such as leadership races.

On the other hand, our level of civic engagement — including our voter

participation rate — is lower than that of many other nations. As Chapter 3

notes, our f‌irst-past-the-post electoral system routinely renders many votes

meaningless and produces results often inconsistent with voter preferences.

Tempering Canada’s f‌irst-past-the-post system with the introduction of