OTTAWA - Canadians will be given a chance this spring to weigh in on the latest floor-crossing MP or any other matter relating to the country's democratic peculiarities.
No, a federal election has not yet been called.
The Conservative government indicated Tuesday it wants to begin public consultations by March 9 on "the challenges facing Canada's electoral system and democratic institutions'' and have a draft report completed before the end of May.
The timeline is laid out in a $500,000 tender for services posted on a contract website. The entire project, including all expenses, is not to exceed $900,000.
Federal officials did not respond to questions about whether the report will be made public.
The tender calls for a private think-tank to join forces with a polling firm to canvass a cross-section of Canadians on five specific topics:
- "political parties (e.g., their role in policy development);''
- "the electoral system (e.g., particular characteristics that are important for citizens, such as the link between elected representatives and a particular geographical area);''
- "the House of Commons (e.g., decorum);''
- "the Senate (e.g., the role it should play and the powers it should possess); and''
- "the role of the citizen (e.g., civic engagement)''
While the tender does not specifically mention the hot-button topic of floor-crossing -- highlighted last week by the defection of former Liberal MP Wajid Khan to the Conservatives -- the project is open-ended.
"Participants will also have the opportunity to signal other issues of concern to them in relation to renewing Canada's democratic institutions and practices,'' says the tender.
Peter Van Loan, the government House leader and minister responsible for democratic reform, said by e-mail Tuesday that day-long citizens' forums will be held in each province and territory, plus an additional forum for youth -- making 12 in all.
The participants are to be made up of a representative sample of Canadians selected by whoever wins the government contract.
Those participants, said Van Loan, "will learn about the issues and then deliberate on the priorities, values and principles they believe should underpin Canada's democratic institutions and practices, and provide their views.''
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pushed Senate reform as one of his priority items since the fall session of Parliament began in September.
Harper has promised eight-year term limits for appointed Senators, and more recently proposed some form of election or plebiscite to guide him in filling Senate vacancies.
Stephen Owen, the Liberal critic on democratic reform, said Tuesday he'll be watching to see whether the Conservative government appears to be skewing the consultation to get the answers it wants.
The British Columbia MP said that's what happened last fall when the government stacked a group studying the Canadian Wheat Board with proponents of ending the monopoly.
But Owen said the areas outlined in the tender mirror his own calls for democratic reform, "so this might be a very positive thing, if it's done sincerely in an objective way.
"Consultation's good and research is important,'' said Owen, former head of the Law Commission of Canada, which completed an exhaustive consultation and report on democratic reform in 2004.
"Let's make sure it's objective, let's make sure we're not neglecting Parliament through the committee's work and that we're not simply duplicating what has already been done by the law commission.''
