In a new blog, Alex Marland and Lisa Moore of Memorial University of Newfoundland discuss their innovative approach to generating ideas for democratic reform in the provincial parliament of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 2015, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the provincial Liberal Party promised to create a legislative committee on democratic reform. But nothing happened. So some academics at Memorial University of Newfoundland decided to kick-start the committee’s work. Here is what we did.
First, some context. Democracy and government are sorely in need of repair in Canada’s easternmost province. A journalist recently wrote a book about some of his observations. The aptly named Turmoil, as Usual: Politics in Newfoundland and Labrador and the Road to the 2015 Election is a window into problems brought on by the plunging price of oil, the former British dominion’s political culture and the parliamentary system itself. Newfoundland and Labrador has historically been governed by populist premiers who dominate the executive and legislative branches of government. The House of Assembly is closed the majority of the year and opposition parties tend to be so dishevelled that they have difficulty scrutinizing government business. Democracy is fragile: multiple Progressive Conservative (PC) premiers were appointed between 2010 and 2015 without a leadership contest. As the election approached the governing PCs and opposition Liberals agreed to reduce the number of seats in the legislature from 48 to 40, with little regard for public consultation. The November 30, 2015 provincial election saw a change of government, with 31 Liberal, 7 PC and 2 New Democratic Party candidates elected. However, civil unrest persisted. Nobody was talking about the pledge to create an all-party committee on democratic reform.
In 2016 we formed an unusual partnership. One of us is a button-down political scientist who has worked in government. The other is an award-winning creative writer who was eager to learn about politics and governance. We obtained a public engagement grant through Memorial University and in-kind commitments from project partners, notably The Telegram newspaper and ISER Books. We set about to invite people to write 850 word opinion pieces about how to improve democratic governance in the province. Other guidelines? No polemics. Pitch change that does not require new resources. Write in an engaging, non-technical manner. Oh, and we do not want your middle initial, because we want to connect with the general public. That academic convention was surprisingly difficult for some authors to let go of.
We went about recruiting writers from all areas of the university. Not just political science, sociology, gender studies, philosophy, economics or anthropology. Also, English, history, archaeology, classics, French, business, education, engineering and music. We made a point of including graduate students. We reached outside to the broader community. Creative writers, poets, a songwriter. A political blogger. Journalists. They all had something to say. Then, we recruited some former politicians and some restaurant operators to prepare food recipes. The dishes were given political names, such as “filibuster fried cod” and “multiparty moose stew.” A former leader of each political party signed a foreword.
The result was The Democracy Cookbook: Recipes to Renew Governance in Newfoundland and Labrador, a 392-page book featuring 87 contributions from 89 authors. Each contribution is short. It begins with a mini-abstract, in the form of a tweet. It concludes with the author’s bio and photograph. The book is dotted with archival photos of the legislature and political life. All of this makes for an engaging read in any order at any pace. One moment, a reader is exploring the need for stricter limits on donations to political parties; the next, a poem about politics, or perhaps a short essay about why ministers should go for walks with citizens. Examples of the contributions include calls to:
- Empower legislative committees and extend the number of sitting hours in the legislature;
- Create a legislative budget officer;
- Allocate seats in the legislature for Aboriginal citizens; and
- Make the provincial parliament more family-friendly by allowing breastfeeding in the legislative chamber.
The concluding chapter warns that electoral reform must not hijack conversations about parliamentary and democratic reform. It calls for a democratic audit and recommends that a Public Consultation Act be created.
What can the PSA Specialist Group on Parliaments learn from this project? That we did so much more than produce a peer-reviewed book. The very process of author recruitment got dozens and dozens of people talking about democratic reform. We gave briefings to the Speaker’s office and to all three party caucuses and political staff. Throughout Fall 2017, each day The Telegram newspaper ran excerpts as full-page opinion pieces along with the book cover. The book appeared prominently on the newspaper’s website, including a banner ad on its homepage. We coordinated an exhibit of the archival photos in the foyer outside the legislature, including information about the project. All of this made it difficult for politicians to ignore the topic of democratic reform.
In November 2017, we held a well-attended book launch event that featured an interactive Q&A session with elected officials. The government house leader, the leader of the official opposition, the leader of the third party and an independent Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) fielded questions from the audience about democratic reform. The book was made available in retail stores and online for a low price. We mailed copies to all 40 MHAs. Online chatter grouped under the hashtag #DemocraticReformNL and a number of speaking events are keeping the conversation going.
True to our spirit of public engagement, in January 2018 The Democracy Cookbook became available online in its entirety – for free. It is the first Open Access (OA) book published by ISER Books. Anyone, anywhere, can read the reform suggestions and about the project itself. To support the OA release, we created and launched six short videos of authors reflecting on their contributions.
So what is the status of the all-party committee on democratic reform? The government house leader recently promised that it will be constituted in 2018. The opposition parties are both currently waging leadership campaigns. A general election is scheduled for 2019. Which means The Democracy Cookbook will offer plenty of food for thought as the next election campaign approaches.
This distinctive made-in-Newfoundland approach to discussing democratic reform should interest anyone who is interested in reforming the parliamentary system of government. The Democracy Cookbook project is a particularly useful source of information for anyone involved with legislative studies in a subnational setting.
Notes
Alex Marland is a Professor of Political Science and Lisa Moore is an Assistant Professor of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland.