Engaging with politics and government decision making can be a difficult task. It is very easy to feel detached from the political process. Our political discourse can be a minefield of social media memes and partisan commentary that can take away from understanding the nuts and bolts of the actual work our governments carry out. For many of us the only time we actively participate in the political process is during an election, when candidates are doing their best to convince us that they can do the best job of representing their communities. While this is certainly an intense phase of our political cycle, it’s also a comparatively tiny part of it. The important part is what happens in between elections. Fortunately, there is plenty of opportunity online to be a fly on the wall and observe our governments in action.
It’s important to understand that various levels of government are responsible for delivering different things. In Canada, decision making generally happens through elected representatives – this is the by-the-people part of a democratic government. We vote for someone in our community to represent us – whether federally, provincially, or municipally – to contribute to the decisions made at those different levels of government.
Our municipal governments manage some of the most tangible aspects of our day-to-day. They’re responsible for many of the roads we drive on, water and sanitation systems, landfills, among many other local services and infrastructure. Today, many municipal councils across Canada offer ways to view their meetings online, both live and on-demand. From the comfort of home, you can watch council meetings on YouTube, including those of our own local municipalities, as well as view agendas and meeting minutes online.
Among our provincial government’s responsibilities, education and health care are probably most keenly felt by individuals. The Ontario Legislative Assembly is televised on the Ontario Parliamentary Channel, as well as streamed on their website. On demand videos can be found on the Ontario Legislature YouTube channel as well. The provincial government also maintains a transcript of proceedings called a Hansard, which is available online and indexed by topic. A Hansard is the official record of government debates and includes what was said and how our elected officials voted. The Legislative Assembly website also includes profiles of MPPs and shows the Bills they introduced in the Assembly, as well as links to the Hansard transcript of the debates regarding those Bills. Legislative assemblies across Canada offer a similar window into their proceedings.
Our federal government deals with concerns of a country-wide nature such as citizenship and immigration, Indigenous relations, and copyright, as well as certain shared responsibilities with the provinces including natural resources and public health. Similar to the provincial governments, the House of Commons is broadcast on television and also has a website where you can view parliamentary proceedings, read the Hansard transcript, and view profiles of MPs.
At the federal level, Canada also has a non-elected body – classically called our “sober second thought” – the Senate. The Senate’s purpose is to study the legislation produced by the House of Commons and, if there is something concerning in that legislation, send the legislation back with suggested amendments. The website for the Senate of Canada includes live streams and recordings of debates and committee meetings, and Senator profiles.
Even though so much information is readily available, it can still be a chore to wade through. Our news media is one means available to understanding the political process, and journalism is considered to be a corner stone of democracy for this reason. Locally, for instance, our newspapers summarize key outcomes from the various council meetings across the County. Likewise, politicians who are interested in doing so can point their constituents to specific examples of their work. For example, Senator Paula Simons is very active on social media, and regularly links to specific Senate proceedings online for issues she’s been directly involved in. There are also easy to navigate sites such as OpenParliament.ca which lets you search for your MP by area code, and then provides a summary of what they’ve been up to in the House of Commons.
With so many priorities vying for our attention, we don’t necessarily have time to know absolutely everything that happens in our various levels of government. But given how much information is at our fingertips, when we see political memes and commentary online, we shouldn’t take them at face value. Rather we should be curious and use these resources to better understand what is actually happening so we can engage with politics in a productive way – and not just at election time.