Over in Alberta, a new bill has been tabled that amends the province’s enabling legislation to run referenda, and upon reading what’s in the bill, the NDP critic immediately sounded the alarm on what’s in the bill – that it gives the premier sole power to determine whether or not these referenda are binding, the timing, and the wording of the referendum question, and more to the point, it allows for third parties to spend as much as $500,000 in advertising – and they won’t be audited if they spend under $350,000. (Remember that in the province, during a general election, third parties can only spend $150,000 on advertising). And when said critic labelled the bill as “undemocratic,” she has been ridiculed by the premier, justice minister, and any number of halfwits over social media who insist that there is nothing more democratic than a referendum.

They’re wrong. Referenda are actually deeply undemocratic.

Why? Because anytime there is more than two simple alternatives being put to the public – and alternatives are never simple or binary – then there isn’t actually a clear question being put forward, or a clear choice involved. And at the end of the process, the government then gets to interpret those unclear results as they see fit, which is actually a means by which the premier (or equivalent – this is the case with any referendum) simply uses those results to strengthen their own control. They use the façade of putting the decision to the people to tighten their own grip on power, and democracy as a whole suffers, especially because it reduces the role and function of Parliament (or provincial legislature in this case). I would recommend that people read The Will of the People: A Modern Myth by Andrew Weale, which, while predicated on the Brexit referendum, lays out why these exercises diminish Parliament. It’s important that people understand what exactly Kenney is doing by bringing this forward.

More to the point, the reason why Kenney is bringing this bill forward is advancing the agenda of his “Fair Deal Panel,” which aims to hold referenda on things like equalization (which can’t actually do anything), opting out of the Canada Pension Plan in favour of a provincial model (which should raise alarm bells considering how the province’s existing pension plan has made a series of bad decisions), or any other number of the Panel’s recommendations for opting out of federal institutions in favour of more costly provincial ones out of spite, or as a make-work project. It’s deeply cynical, and as we’ve established, actually undemocratic wearing the guise of populist democracy, and Kenney is going to do untold damage to the province with these tools at his disposal, but people won’t care because they’ve been fooled by his rhetoric. It’s all deeply concerning, but unless the province’s opposition can up their game and actually make cogent arguments to the public, then Kenney will continue to steamroll over them.

Good reads:

• An American rating agency downgraded Canada’s credit rating because of the new debt taken on as a result of the pandemic.
• Some CERB recipients are getting smaller payments this month because they were overpaid during the first pay period.
• RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki was asked about systemic racism at Public Safety committee, and went on about physical training requirements for recruits.
• Here’s a look at how a decision by the Americans to impose new aluminium tariffs could backfire on them, as there will still be demand for Canadian product.
• A group of former parliamentarians and diplomats seem keen for the government to tell China that hostage diplomacy works. Unbelievable.
• Black-owned businesses say they are not afforded the same government procurement opportunities and are calling for equitable access.
• Hackers used a fake contact-tracing app masquerading as the official government app to infect users’ phones with ransomware. (A decryption is now available).
• The Star got more details on the fired intern who allegedly hacked the O’Toole campaign – but his former boss tweeted that this version isn’t what he was told.
• Susan Delacourt delves into the elections returns to take lessons on how the Conservatives and Liberals spend on what kinds of advertising, and what it means.
• Jesse Kline suggests that Erin O’Toole take some responsibility for the hacking of his campaign, given their lax cyber-security in this day and age.
• Chris Selley sees the freakout by Quebec nationalists over systemic racism as a sign that their generation of politics has entered its death throes.

Odds and ends:

My latest for the CBA’s National Magazine talks to the defence bar about the Chief Justice’s concerns about a looming crisis around jury trials.

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