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Counterpoint: Active citizens integral for democracy

The political season is almost upon us. We are sensible enough in this country to take two months off from figuring out where we want to go and just enjoy where we are. But the fact that politics is seasonal reveals why it does not work very well.

The political season is almost upon us. We are sensible enough in this country to take two months off from figuring out where we want to go and just enjoy where we are. But the fact that politics is seasonal reveals why it does not work very well.

Representative democracy comes down to periodic elections where we elect people to make decisions for us. Yet we rarely think about what that means. It sounds reasonable, but in practice it does not really produce a genuine democracy. It simultaneously puts too big of a burden on elected officials and gives them too much power to make decisions on our behalf.

Equally important: it lets us as residents off the hook. We can too easily ignore our responsibilities and simply blame the politicians.

In his book Community: The Structure of Belonging, author Peter Block says this current state of politics reduces most people to passive consumers of politics, just as they are consumers of goods. As mere consumers of politics rather than intentional citizens, we abdicate responsibility.

Powell River has excellent potential for turning consumers of politics into engaged citizens. In the recent provincial election local voter turnout was an amazing 72 per cent, nearly 10 percentage points higher than the provincial average; and 75 per cent of those voting supported social and environmental progress by voting NDP and Green.

In 2014, Powell River Voices (of which I am a member of the steering committee) did a community-values survey by interviewing 550 households. Almost no one declined to speak to us and were eager to engage. We originally estimated it would take 10 minutes to do the survey; it turned out to be closer to 20 minutes because people wanted to talk.

City of Powell River council should take renewed note of this potential. One of the pledges of the new majority on council was to increase citizen engagement.

Councillors started off well by planning a series of public engagements. The first one, held at Willingdon Beach, focused on environmental sustainability. It received mixed reviews and councillors felt it did not accomplish what they had hoped.

It was back to the drawing board and other events were dropped. To some extent, council fell back on the old model of forming citizen advisory committees. It now has a nine-member sustainability committee, which sends policy recommendations directly to council for action.

New councillors have also tried pop-up consultations; for example, setting up at Powell River Recreation Complex where hockey fans can engage with them on issues such as redevelopment of the barge terminal. That is a worthwhile effort but does not go far enough.

Block argues in his book that we need to move from presenting people with problems to talking about possibilities and creating a sense of belonging.

To build community we need to replace people’s sense of isolation with connectedness. Otherwise, writes Block, we end up with a culture of complaint where the main activity for residents is grumbling.

Murray Dobbin is a Powell River freelance writer and social commentator.