‘Democratic renewal is a better investment and a bargain to boot’

Scott Payne talks to Alex Himelfarb about the present and future of Canadian democracy.

But beyond this, many Canadians, of all ages, are finding both local and global ways of engaging in public life, volunteering time and money, developing creative local solutions to social problems, taking responsibility. Public enterprise is bigger than government. Citizens need not and increasingly do not wait for government leadership to get engaged. Interestingly, the evidence suggests that those most involved in their communities are also most likely to vote and participate politically more generally. But of course political leadership is crucial. And I hope it’s not too naive to think that the time may be ripe for just such political leadership – on electoral reform, on the value and meaning of citizenship and on the health of our democracy.