Marking 20 years
of bold journalism,
reader supported.
News
Politics

Expert on Healthy Democracy Takes BC's Pulse

Get real about engaging the public urges Matt Leighninger, in Whistler this Friday.

Andrew MacLeod 7 Feb 2012TheTyee.ca

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's legislative bureau chief in Victoria. Find him on Twitter or reach him here.

image atom
Who wants to speak? Leighninger's Whistler event will focus on 'best tools and methods for leaders to "convene" citizens, stakeholders and diverse voices.'

When the British Columbia government posted a year-end video featuring Premier Christy Clark on YouTube in December, it was pitched "as part of her commitment to open government."

The video is four minutes of Clark talking about "change" and promoting the various things she takes credit for having done as premier, including launching the BC Jobs Plan, maintaining fiscal prudence, promoting small business and helping families.

"There's not a whole lot of engagement there," said Matt Leighninger, the executive director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium in Hamilton, Ontario. "It's a video promoting her policy agenda. It's not engagement so much as messaging."

Leighninger will be in B.C. Feb. 10, 2012, to give a one-day workshop for the Whistler Forum on the "best tools and methods for leaders to 'convene' citizens, stakeholders and diverse voices."

If politicians want to engage using the Internet, they have to do more than just post something to Facebook or YouTube, he said. Meaningful engagement is more likely if commenters are required to use their real names and if a moderator facilitates the discussion, he said.

Politicians need to understand that the Internet's two overriding values are transparency and democracy. For those who don't understand that, he said, "It's more likely your attempt to shove your message out the door is going to backfire."

It's hard to tell whether that has been the reception to Clark's video, which has had a couple thousand views -- though viewer "dislikes" outweigh "likes" by 21 to eight.

Engagement a 'two-way street'

Clark's video may work as part of a broader engagement strategy, Leighninger said, noting it mentioned town halls. Since becoming premier, Clark has hosted several such events, including a recent one in Penticton where, according to the announcement, anyone was welcome to come and raise any question. In Whistler, Leighninger's talk will draw on two reports he's written recently on how government's can better engage citizens.

One is "Using Online Tools to Engage -- and Be Engaged by -- The Public," written for the IBM Center for the Business of Government. The other, prepared for the National League of Cities in the United States and called "Planning for Stronger Local Democracy," suggests different tools that will work well for engagement in different situations.

"The most challenging term to define in 'using online tools to engage the public' is neither 'online' nor 'engage,' but 'public,'" he wrote in the IBM Center report. "It is... important to understand that engagement is now a two-way street: more than ever before, citizens have the capacity to engage their government and to insert themselves into policy-making processes."

That desire has been evident for some time and the Internet has only accelerated the shift, he wrote. "Engagement efforts must be built around the needs, goals, and concerns of the potentially engaged, not just the engagers."

Short-term thinking and tools "cannot replace the careful, collaborative planning and building of long-term engagement infrastructure," he wrote. "Productive engagement is based on long-term relationships between government and citizens."

The promise of Twitter

The B.C. government uses a variety of methods to engage the public, and has tried various experiments over the years. The Tyee sought Leighninger's reaction to a few of them.

Education Minister George Abbott recently used Twitter to host town hall style meetings, for example. "Twitter's quite interesting," said Leighninger, who will also speak to a Vancouver Coastal Health audience while in the province. "It is something where it's easy to involve a pretty large number of people. I think Twitter's got a lot of potential."

Last summer B.C. started an "open data" website. It has become a clearinghouse for things like lists of library locations and statistics on parks usage.

"It's good to be open," said Leighninger. But while it's admirable to release data, "It doesn't replace really meaningful participation or engagement."

Most people will never even know the data is there, and in the worst case scenario it just gives critics of the government information that can be used selectively, as has at times been the case with the Tea Party movement in the United States, said Leighninger, who was born in the States and lived there until just over a decade ago.

"It hasn't done a whole lot to strengthen participation," he said. "In terms of producing stronger trust in government or stronger probelm solving, if anything it made things worse."

Citizens' Assembly too small

During the B.C. Liberal Party's first term in office, the government struck the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, that in 2004 recommended adopting a single transferable vote voting system in the province. The recommendation was put to a referendum in 2005, which narrowly fell short of the 60 per cent support it needed to pass.

Leighninger said he was familiar with the process, which included 158 citizens, and that it had some drawbacks. "It's such a small number it ends up being a very thoughtful and expensive focus group," he said.

Engaging people has various benefits, he said. The people taking part learn through the process, they change their opinions, they feel more connected to their community and they build trust in the government, he said.

Research shows that when people feel attached to their community it actually causes economic vitality and growth, he said.

If you only engage with, or rely on, just a small group of people, then you minimize those rewards, he said.

Plus it was unfortunate that the assembly's thoughtful recommendations were then put to a yes/no of a referendum, where voters may or may not have fully considered the question, he said.

Participatory budgeting

The B.C. government also conducts an annual budget consultation, where a legislative committee travels the province hearing from citizens and groups. The committee produces a report each year on what it's heard, but it's often unclear what if any of the recommendations find their way into the actual budget.

It is possible for governments to vest more power in such processes, said Leighninger. He raised the example of participatory budgeting, an idea started in Brazil where groups of citizens say what they want in the budget and public officials make it happen.

"Basically, what they say goes," he said. "It's not a question of consultation." The idea has spread through various Latin American countries and has been used in Chicago and Toronto.

The best forms of engagement are where government representatives connect with a broad range of people, said Leighninger. This might be in small group sessions or in online settings. Officials should talk with people, create options and develop action plans, he said.

Sometimes the process will be led by the government; other times it will be initiated by other leaders in communities, he said. It could be through stronger neighbourhood associations, online forums or local groups, he said.

And while there are many "cool and gadgety" tools that can be used, they work best when they are part of a broader public engagement plan, he said. "In some cases it's a whole bunch of tools looking for a plan."

The main thing is to give people a space, whether it's online or face to face, where they can talk about issues and political stuff, he said.  [Tyee]

Read more: Politics

  • Share:

Facts matter. Get The Tyee's in-depth journalism delivered to your inbox for free

Tyee Commenting Guidelines

Comments that violate guidelines risk being deleted, and violations may result in a temporary or permanent user ban. Maintain the spirit of good conversation to stay in the discussion.
*Please note The Tyee is not a forum for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, denying its existence or minimizing its risk to public health.

Do:

  • Be thoughtful about how your words may affect the communities you are addressing. Language matters
  • Challenge arguments, not commenters
  • Flag trolls and guideline violations
  • Treat all with respect and curiosity, learn from differences of opinion
  • Verify facts, debunk rumours, point out logical fallacies
  • Add context and background
  • Note typos and reporting blind spots
  • Stay on topic

Do not:

  • Use sexist, classist, racist, homophobic or transphobic language
  • Ridicule, misgender, bully, threaten, name call, troll or wish harm on others
  • Personally attack authors or contributors
  • Spread misinformation or perpetuate conspiracies
  • Libel, defame or publish falsehoods
  • Attempt to guess other commenters’ real-life identities
  • Post links without providing context

LATEST STORIES

The Barometer

Do You Think Naheed Nenshi Will Win the Alberta NDP Leadership Race?

Take this week's poll