In Part 2 of this series, I explained why most of my work in my political party was almost all politics, with very little governance. I did not have any personal anecdotes where my work was at least 50% governance.
But I do have a few examples outside my personal experience where governance rules over politics.
I will acknowledge that sometimes provincial and federal legislation does have more of governance flavor than a political flavor. There have been bills passed that I believed that made society a little better. Yet these bills were not popular with the public and/or not in the best interests of demographics that had considerable political influence.
A good example was the introduction of Canada’s GST tax system in 1991. It was widely unpopular yet was so necessary. The government at the time used up a lot of political capital to implement the tax. The government lost the next election — but there were other reasons than just this new tax.
Governance often happens when bills are being formed and shepherded through the legislative process. Then the high-ranking members of the party are mostly in a “governance” mode of thinking. They had lots of deliberation, considering alternatives, exchanging perspectives, and finally taking a vote. Such members sometimes change their mind about the campaign promises they had made earlier.
However, the rank-and-file members of any party were not part of that discussion and decision to turn an idea into a bill and later into a law. Whatever party work is done by the lower members is mostly for politics.
As well, municipal governance in my hometown is also mostly governance. An issue arises; councillors give their opinions; a discussion follows; a vote is taken; the majority implements the decision; the council moves on to the next issue. My elected councillors are voting based on their perspective of what they think is best for my town. They may not agree with each other, and I may not agree with the majority decision. But the counsellors have no political party considerations to interfere with their deliberations. Compared to my provincial and federal representatives, my municipal counsellors are much more into governance than into politics.
And there is another interesting comparison between municipal and provincial/federal politicians. In my hometown, councillors are not working full-time on civic affairs. They usually have occupations; a few are retired. With “politics” off to the side, they are more able to invest their time into governance. They get a small stipend to attend meetings, probably earning about $20,000 a year.
In contrast, my provincial and federal representatives are working full-time and overtime, getting a salary that is much larger than the Canadian average salary.
But their big salary is mostly for politics. Think about that.
Published on Medium 2023
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