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Its easy to be a democracy doomsayer these days.

The hard part is deciding what the biggest peril is. Otherwise, the hand-wringing becomes pointless finger-wagging.

Consider these three pillars as we ponder how to shore up the foundations of Canadian democracy.

At the recent DemocracyXChange Summit, I moderated a panel of three big thinkers who set the table for a broader debate by activists and academics at the event: What is to be done?

Democracy is about choosing making an informed decision not just about rival ideologies, but competing ecosystems that threaten our own system.

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Mia Gaviola explained how disinformation took root in her native Philippines and is now infecting all democracies. A longtime collaborator with the Manila-based journalist and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, she argued that misinformation has multiplied because social media technology moves at warp speed.

The problem is the new breed of information gatekeepers, which are algorithms, she told the audience. Algorithms and policies implemented by social media platforms play a critical role in shaping where we place our attention, the values by which we define ourselves.

While mainstream media are still the main sources of news for Canadians, the pandemic opened up new vectors not only for viruses, but viral news that upended reality, she added. Conspiracies are us even in Canada.

I reminded the audience of an Abacus Data poll last year that found one in three Canadians believe Microsoft founder Bill Gates is monitoring people with microchips implanted in COVID-19 vaccines, or they think its possible, or theyre just not sure but cant rule it out.

Faulty information rapidly erodes faith in our institutions and trust is core to democracy, said longtime public servant Matthew Mendelsohn. Trust is what allows people to move beyond family ties to clans, tribes, and finally nation states that work together and govern themselves across regions that span thousands of kilometres and millions of people.

It is foundational. But fragile.

Authoritarians are targeting our belief in the integrity of our democratic institutions, and our trust in one another this is clearly part of the authoritarian strategy.

Mendelsohn pointed out that trust doesnt mean uncritical belief. You can trust someone as a good-faith politician or journalist who gets it wrong, as opposed to a person of bad faith who wilfully deceives and corrupts.

He used me as an example.

I dont know Martin that well, but I trust Martin, he argued. (Full disclosure: weve both been visiting professors at Toronto Metropolitan University and, it turns out, attended the same Montreal high school, but didnt cross paths until a few years ago.) Sometimes I disagree with Martin, but I dont think he is writing as an agent of a hidden interest, or a foreign power.

He is like the other panellists, and like the other people in this room, and I hope me: A good-faith actor who sometimes makes mistakes and with whom we can disagree, with whom we can dialogue.

Thats a point worth bearing in mind amid our ideological politics and polarizing battles. We can hold opposing views while sharing similar democratic beliefs.

Beyond misinformation and mistrust, however, the enduring fault line in Canada is inequality, according to economist Armine Yalnizyan (who also writes a fortnightly column in the Stars business section).

The search for economic and social justice, and reducing inequality, is at the core of our democratic project, she said.

The inequities are increasingly entrenched because workers and activists lack clout and focus: The workforce is extremely atomized, we dont have strong unions, we dont have a strong collective voice. We are much more into identity politics than we are into class politics.

Yalnizyan argued that Canadians are competing in the Olympics of victimization Im worse off than you are; youre worse off; well look at me, Im even worse off; and that process of not finding common ground and common things to fight for makes it very difficult to gain advantage.

Like the other panellists, Yalnizyan stressed the need for reliable rules and institutions but argued they need shaking up. With overseas supply chains fraying, the old globalization is dead, to be replaced by a fragile new globalization based on co-operation on climate change and other shared threats.

All that said, I wonder if voter preoccupations with both identity and affordability have upended the collective fight for fairness: Affordability is the new inequality, which means politicians spend more time talking up tax cuts, and less time guarding against cuts to social programs.

Todays pocketbook politics, starting in America but increasingly in Canada, is less transformational and more transactional than ever. Just ask Premier Doug Ford.

That, too, is democracy. If you dont like it, you need to make it better.

See more here:
Want to save democracy? Focus on these three things - Toronto Star