Democracy is a frail and fragile thing. In fact, it’s absolutely precarious, something we’re seeing all over the world, and, perhaps most noteworthy and alarming, right next door in the great republic to the south.
But democracy is imperilled here in Canada as well, and yes, it clings to life right here in Renfrew, where municipal mandarins and an either weak or complicit, perhaps even incompetent mayor team together to deny democratic process in municipal government.
Owing to its fragile nature, it’s not terribly difficult for empire builders to trample all over its basic tenets, and people with personal or ambitious agendas represent the greatest threat to democracy, here and everywhere.
Democracy is government of the people, for the people, by the people, to crib Abe Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address. For heaven’s sake, it’s got the Greek prefix demo right in there, which literally means people, but I doubt any of the apparatchiks over at Town Hall have had much of a sniff of history and democracy’s place in it, nor would they likely be inclined to care. They’ll defend what they consider to be their sovereign turf, as if by occupying an office it somehow gets confused with the right to wear a crown.
These are versions of Frankenstein’s monster come to life. Most of us know that old story, about the scientist who creates what he was hoping to be a reasonable facsimile of a man, but instead he got a monstrosity, a monstrosity that once created lashed out in anger, even against his own creator. Sort of like members of municipal staff, hired by elected councillors, but once ensconced, turn against their masters and comport themselves as the masters instead.
Democracy is messy business, and far from perfect. It is, rather, an on-going experiment in the management of human affairs, where those governed have some say in how they’re governed. And as Winston Churchill once opined, it’s preferable to any of the alternatives.
Because what makes democracy weak is not the concept, but rather the imperfect application of that concept, and that’s a human thing bringing with it the entire host of potential human character flaws that gum up everything for the rest of us ten times out of five.
Democracy isn’t weak. It’s too many of the people entrusted with its care that are. And of course a voting population that takes the whole thing for granted, with over 50% of them not bothering to show up and vote at all.
It can be only as good as the people playing the roles on both sides of the equation, those who vote and those whom they elect. And in Renfrew, both those groups get badly served by unelected titans who view themselves as protectors of the municipality, hiding all along the way behind a porous Municipal Act, a piece of legislation so vague and vacuous that a five-ton truck could be driven through it without scraping any paint off the sides. This is the mighty shield wielded by small-town department directors when inconvenient logic and reasoned argument lands before them.
Did you know that the councillors you elect to Town Council have no higher right to municipal information than anyone else? That the people elected to provide direction to the corporation are wilfully and intentional kept in the dark about vital things pertaining to their mandate? Were you aware that elected councillors themselves need to file Freedom of Information requests for basic background information relating to municipal affairs?
These are the people who vote on policy direction. Yet they’re apparently not entitled to the information needed to make important decisions impacting you and your wallet.
Were you aware of all of this?
I can understand some caution when it comes to Area 51-type state secrets, sure. Some things not everyone needs to know. But how many Area 51-type secrets can there be in a place like Renfrew? Apparently, from what I can see so far, more than we’d like. And as to those secrets, who among us holds the key to that information? Upon what authority?
And so, if elected councillors can’t get at information, information needed to make a responsible vote, where does that leave you? The people some of you elected have been shut down and shut out, which means you’ve been shut down and shut out. How do you feel about that?
How do you feel about being manipulated in this way? Or maybe even worse, flat-out ignored?It’s like they have you right where they want you, in the dark with wool over your eyes, and the best part for them is their seeming belief that you’re not even aware you have wool over your eyes.
Ignorance and apathy on the part of residents, taxpayers, and voters are the bread-and-butter they rely upon to do the things they do without scrutiny. This allows the un-elected movers and shakers the ability to move and shake without accountability, and that’s something that brings them no small measure of comfort as they sit in their offices over at the newly renovated Fort Renfrew, which like most other things that have passed through their hands, was grotesquely over-budget.
Imagine.
They’ve somehow managed to get hired, be given compensation and responsibilities, then once there, have slammed and locked the door against the people who put them there. And anybody else with a question.
Municipal employees can be fired for cause. I’ll argue that the intransigence on display by certain members of municipal staff are the stuff of legitimate “for cause” arguments.
Failing to live up to self-stated expectations of transparency and accountability may also represent the basic foundation of a “for cause” argument.
It’s not the beginning of a witch hunt to suggest anything like this. But it is the beginning of a serious discussion of what can be done when the people you hire go rogue on you.
What may be equally disturbing is the seeming appearance of complicity on the part of an elected official, that being the Head of Council, or if you prefer, the mayor. The record is now clear of decisions made that directly and negatively impact the role and place of councillors in our local democracy. Decisions made and policies implemented that directly and negatively impact the democratic balance that exists between elected officials and hired staff. Directions travelled that have sullied the ability of the people’s representatives to do their jobs.
We, you and I, are the demo. We’re what the whole thing is supposed to be about. Power flows through us by virtue of our vote, should we decide to exercise it. But when we don’t, when we let life distract us, when we shrug our shoulders in complacency, then we create the conditions by which democracy can be bent, or distorted, or even rendered untenable.
That means we, as in you and I, are the only people who can fix this mess, the only people who can restore fundamental aspects of democratic government to our own municipal government here in Renfrew.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 