The Rise of Partisanship and How it Paralyses Parliaments.

• Author: Starke, Richard

Partisanship permits groups of like-minded people who share similar ideas to organize themselves efficiently in politics. It's an accepted and acceptable part of parliamentary democracy. But when hyper-partisanship takes hold in politics it can be detrimental to the way parliamentarians serve their constituents and severely diminish how they see their representatives. In this article, the author reflects on his experiences in Alberta's Assembly and suggests three ways he, his colleagues, and other parliamentarians across the country can reverse the trend towards hyper-partisanship. First, he suggests parliamentarians treat our political adversaries as colleagues, and seek opportunities to get to know them away from the legislature. Second, he urges parliamentarians to seek options for dealing with legislation in a less partisan, more collaborative environment in committee. Finally, he recommends making a conscious effort to elevate the level of debate, discussion, and decorum in each of our respective Legislatures. This article was originally presented to the 39th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Canadian Regional Seminar in Charlottetown, on October 11, 2017.

When first elected as an MLA in April 2012 I sat on the government benches. Upon my re-election in 2015,1 found myself sitting on the opposition side--one of nine members of a much smaller Progressive Conservative caucus. Within the limited space I have for this article, I won't go into all of the goings on and machinations that have occurred in Alberta politics since then, other than to say it's rather like going to SeaWorld and being forced to sit in the first three rows to watch the Shamu Show.

In approaching the topic of partisanship as an MLA who has sat both in Government and in Opposition, both as a private member and as a Cabinet Minister, I'm able to draw on experiences that offer some differing perspectives on the topic at hand.

But my experience as a parliamentarian extends back many more years, to when I was a teenager and joined what was at that time known as the TUXIS and Older Boys' Parliament of Alberta. This is a model youth parliament that has been operating continuously in Alberta since 1919--parallel organizations exist in most other provinces--and I was a member from 1975 through 1981. During my time in parliament I served in a number of Cabinet positions as well as serving as Alternate Leader of the Opposition, Premier, and Speaker of the House.

I mention this organization because it was unique in how it approached parliamentary debate. Members were divided into Government and Opposition sides, but every vote in the Parliament was a free vote. There were no political parties, and each member was free to speak their own mind, and conscience, on every issue. We followed Beauchesne's Rules of Order, and we learned a lot about what it took to craft good legislation, how it could be amended to improve it, and how it was important to listen to the views of others, even those that you disagreed with.

Fast forward 30 years to 2012 and I found myself sitting in those same seats in the Legislature in Edmonton. I arrived, as I suspect many newly elected members do, full of idealism and naivete. In my maiden speech, I told my new colleagues that no one party has a monopoly on all the good ideas, and that it shouldn't matter if it was a Liberal idea, or an NDP idea, or a Wildrose or Progressive Conservative idea, what should matter is that if it was a good idea. I remember a hearty round of desk pounding after that, and felt that my 86 colleagues and I were prepared to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

How quickly that all changed.

Let's start with Question Period. There's little doubt that this is the one hour of the Sitting day that gets the most media (and therefore public) attention. In many ways, that's a shame. It's not that...