The State of Democracy in Canada

Ottawa City councillor Clive Doucet opened up the meeting with some observations on current issues and events.  Unfortunately Clive had to leave early because of prior commitment but his comments stimulated much discussion amongst participants.  Following is a summary of comments from Clive and others during the course of the meeting.

In Canada, as in many other countries, many aspects of the democratic process are still quite superficial.  Inadequate controls are in place and there is still little real accountability by the people in power.  Successive governments have encouraged degradation of Canada's nation institutions:  e.g. the health care system and CN Rail.  At the local level, facilities and infrastructure have been allowed to degrade.  In almost every case, after allowing these institutions to fail universal solutions appear to favor privatization in some form. 

• In the health care system privatization of selected services and hospitals is seen by many as a viable solution. 
• After CN failed due to lack of adequate financial support from government it was privatized and is now virtually a U.S. focused company.  Canadian based services and facilities continue to degenerate. 
• The City of Ottawa has allowed facilities like Lansdowne Part to degenerate and crumble year after year.  The City is now considering a sole source contract arrangement with a developer group that will virtually take over develop and operate the entire Lansdowne facility for a period of some 30 years returning it to the City's care just in time for its mid-life refit. 
  

St. Thomas Church, 2345 Alta Vista Drive

• Dr. Qais Ghanem, Candidate for Ottawa-South
• Dr. André Sylvestre, Candidate for Pontiac (Québec)
• Ralph Terminal, Reddish-Blue party candidate