Public Trust - Must Not a Bust

I have procrastinated enough.  It’s time to write a blog on public trust.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and what is there to say about public trust? 

I think the polls say it all when it comes to public trust.  37% of the electorate voted in the last municipal election.  This is the same number as the last election of 2008. So why wasn’t there a total overhaul of Regional Council?   The media and polls strongly suggested people wanted a dramatic change to their municipal government, yet only three seats actually changed in the election.

Could it have been the inconvenience? Due to the change in boundaries, there were changes to many poll locations.  To save money, Council agreed to the elimination of advanced polls by paper ballot hoping the electorate would take advantage of the two weeks of internet and phone voting. Moreover Election days were moved to Saturdays to allow for easier access to vote.  Or was it just plain apathy?

I’m thinking it’s the last.  Apathy seems to be rampant within all levels of government these days. I believe it boils down to public trust. A large percentage of the population have lost faith in the system and can you blame them?  No.  

At the municipal level, politicians are not really in control with the day to day operations of the municipality.  The issue stems from the fact that our elected officials are strangled with legislation from past provincial government decisions. In Halifax Regional Municipality’s case; they are ruled by a report known as the Hayward Report. Written in 1995 for immediate action in 1996, the report outlined the newly amalgamated Municipality’s governance model which empowered the bureaucrats and emasculate the elected officials.   

William Hayward the author of the report himself was a bureaucrat and really didn't understand the complexities of municipal services and the roles the citizens wanted their representatives to govern.  With the adoption of this governance model, several things were left out of the framework, starting with the support of the citizens and businesses for the change.  Out of 3 amalgamations, only one was truly backed by the electorate, and it wasn’t Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford or the former counties; it was Queen’s Regional Municipality.    

With so much opposition to amalgamation, I believe the citizenry were so turned off; they lost interest in any of the details like the governance model.  Do you blame them?  I certainly don’t, but I do blame the lack of educating of the public of this model on the municipality. By not educating the electorate, their expectations of good governance are dashed constantly because the rules favour the process and policies of former “strategic plans”, “planning strategies”… etc.  Does the bureaucratic machine have too much power and those elected not really educated in the rules surrounding government? I think it’s a little of both.  

While at a Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference a few years ago, I noticed that Calgary has a great program in place for educating their citizens. Run by Community and Neighbourhood Services City Hall School is available for school children from grades 3 to 12 the opportunity to be educated on the operations and political side of City Hall. A city educating their future citizens could be broaden to include newly landed immigrants or citizens that would like to know more about civics.  Why can’t Halifax introduce something like this? 

I brought this idea up at Regional Council many times, but unfortunately I had no support, so I’m challenging this New Council to pick up this idea and run with it!  Seriously, if we want a change in the percentage of voters, more civic pride, and more citizen participation; you need to foster, educate, and work with the citizens.

On a closing note, public trust is a two way street.  Yes, government needs to gain the citizens’ trust by acting in good faith, but citizens have to stop being so bloody apathetic!   Change only happens when everyone participates as a team.  I know, I’m cheerleading here… but if we want better government, we have to participate, push our elected officials, and request change, not just for the sake of change, but to make our communities better for all.

Next Blog: TBA