The new wave of pluralism

It appears that the Conservative government in Ottawa announced on August 8 that it is running a series of "online consultations" to sort out the so-called fiscal imbalance in Canada. But in fact, the Tories simply posted a set of background documents and asked the Canadian public to study hard and answer the following questions by email or registered mail:

How should these key principles be implemented in order to help restore fiscal balance and reinforce a strong economic union?
What do you see as the areas for priority action?

Perhaps the questions should be prefaced with the following:

"The Government of Canada is committed to appeasing citizen demand for transparent governance and an active voice in policy-making. In this new wave of pluralism, the Government is asking every regular-Joe Canadian to study the complicated funding formulas already in place and devise a plan for a new, innovative fiscal arrangement between the Federal and Provincial Governments."

I might be way off track here, but it seems that the Tories are targetting Joe Canadian and not the community of experts and policy advisors, which might have a better idea on how to manage the problem. More specifically, I wonder about the value of judgment that Joe Canadian can offer in this case. That is, if he has even heard of the program. And if he can find out how to participate. And if he can navigate the confusing maze of links. And if he really wants to take the time to read ten massive webpages of facts, pie charts and graphs. And if he really believes that his voice will be heard. And, And, And...

Is this really their plan? Their torch of transparency? A webpage with links and contact information for some office in Ottawa? Well, if any benefit came out of this new isolationist government, it's that the staff at Tim Horton's save an extra penny every time I buy a coffee.

To their credit, though, the Conservatives have offered Canadians a valuable resource for channeling their input on the future role of government in post-secondary education. And it is... ...drum roll please... ....a survey!

Here is the list of themes and questions:

1. Objectives for post-secondary education (PSE) and training
What objectives should Canada aspire to for PSE and training?
Which objectives would you rank among the top three priorities for action?

2. Clarifying roles and responsibilities in PSE and training
Given what you have identified as objectives, what would be the most important roles for the Government of Canada to play?
Where would clarifying roles and responsibilities amongst governments be most helpful? Do you have advice on how these roles could best be defined?

3. Developing a framework for ensuring measurable results and accountability
What results would be most useful to measure in terms of PSE and training?
How could governments report on progress so that they are held accountable?


...and government emerges to save the day! Seriously. These questions are cut and pasted from every mediocre business consultant's play book in the country. "'What are the strengths of your business? How can we harness those strengths to build the success of your business? and blah blah blah." The questions are absolutely meaningless unless they are posed to right people with the right knowledge.

So why didn't any of our national student lobby groups hear about the "consultation" until they stumbled upon the site themselves? Who is the government trying to reach? What is it going to do with the data? More importantly, why doesn't it provide any background information with the survey, answering these questions?

To be sure, the government has gone out of its way to sweep this consultation straight under the rug of the student movement in this country. The Tories have backdoored both national lobby groups, who have calculated, responsible policy recommendations, in the interest of reaching an unknown, likely ignorant, constituency.

With no clear mandate or mission statement, with a deadline set for the middle of Orientation Week in most Canadian universities and no hope of reaching any stragglers, with little to no promotion or media attention, this program is heading straight to my ON NOTICE board.


All i can say is, 'Wayda go, Steve." Way. To. Go.