EDemocracy: What is It

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E-Democracy What is It?

• Carolyn Bennett MP
• Opening the E-Government File Governing in the
  21st Century
• Thursday, March 29, 2001

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Changing Government Volume 1

• The Political- Administrative Interface pg13
• In a democracy, the role of the elected
  representatives is to ensure that the values and
  interests of the whole society are fairly
  represented in public debate

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Jerry Mechling

• Inputs
• how do we decide what we want government to do
• Who has access ?
• Who has authority ?
• Who is we ??
• technology opens things up - creating a whole
  bunch of choices from which to choose

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Democracy

• One of the cornerstones of democracy has been to
  provide public spaces in which citizens can
  discuss ideas
• the web provides a new and important space

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Good governmentUrsula Franklin

• Fair
• transparent
• takes people seriously

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Good e-government

• Fair
• accessible
• eg CAP , plain language, multiple formats
• transparent
• accountable
• eg donations
• takes people seriously
• assured listening
• where are we in the process ??
• eg SFTH

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E-making a differencesetting the agenda, policy
priorities

• 1. NGOs
• 2. Media
• 3. Professional Organizations
• 4. Talking to government

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Dialogue St. Pauls - 2000

• Citizen Engagement and the Elected Representative
• Background document -
• Library of Parliament, William Young

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Citizen Engagement the Elected Representative

• The social contract in our democracy is founded
  on the consent of the governed.

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Citizen Engagement the Elected Representative

• This implies not just that voters select their
  governments, but also that there is more or less
  continuous contact between citizens and their
  elected representatives in order to exchange
  knowledge and opinions.

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Citizen Engagement the Elected Representative

• It also implies the expression of preferences on
  the part of the citizen, as well as a certain
  level of attentiveness and consciousness of what
  government is doing, or wants to do.

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Dialogue St. Pauls

• Recommendations from last year -
• playbook of best practices townhalls etc.
• web-based solutions
• issues groups, captains
• interactive website
• accountabilty
• improved communication on what parliamentarians
  do -
• ? Post schedule

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Dialogue St. Pauls

• Rise in reliance on polling
• rising interest in direct democracy
• increased use of non-elected bodies for
  decision-making
• skepticism of formal public consultation
• need for parliamentary reform
• confusion between political partisan

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Whos asking ???

• individual elected members
• standing committees
• The bureaucracy
• ? Political parties

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??? Different questions

• What ?? - political question
• How ?? - management question

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Tracy Westen - Grassroots.com

• Government about communication
• every new communication tool has an impact
• Democracy is interactive
• Internet has a dis-intermediating effect
• Will become an interface of democracy
• listened to ? , feedback
• good on-line citizens

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Tracy Westen - Grassroots.com

• Openness of information
• integrated democracy network
• Candidates- log on and register information
• Campaign financing
• on line, same day
• Organization
• getting volunteers

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Tracy Westen - Grassroots.com

• Collaborative activities
• citizens to impact on public policy
• Helpful
• Convergence of services
• Fairness

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Oliver KentPractice leader, PricewaterhouseCooper
s

• Citizen-centred
• relevant,effective,efficient cohesive
• More open,responsive and interactive government
• Presents a modern, efficient face to outside
  world
• Reduces overhead costs, not services
• good for domestic businesses

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Dialogue St. Pauls II the e-citizen -
May 2001

• Notes on Electronic Citizen Engagement
• Library of Parliament
• Parliamentary Research Branch
• Michael Dewing,
• Political and Social Affairs Division

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Dialogue St. Pauls II the e-citizen -
May 2001

• include youth winners of Citizen Engagement award
  - Grade 10
• to achieve a toolbox for parliamentarians

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Engaging Citizens over the Internet - Benefits

• Can reach large audiences
• Provide large amounts of information
• Citizens can send information or comments back

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Engaging Citizens over the Internet - Problems

• Internet is not accessible to everyone
• used less by seniors, families without children,
  and low-income Canadians
• Incivility Hostile or abusive messages
• Can provide opportunities for manipulation and
  misinformation
• Can lead to information overload, both for the
  citizen and the recipient of comments

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Electronic Citizen Engagement

• Must serve all citizens - Internet cannot replace
  other forms of interaction, must be conscious of
  digital divide
• Policy Process
• ensuring transparency and privacy
• publishing thorough yet, understandable
  consultation documents
• letting citizens know how their input will be
  used
• dealing with potentially large volumes of
  communications

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Information Flow

• Volume and speed of arriving information has
  increased
• More and better informed players
• Many more issues have become politicized
• Lobby groups able to mobilize coalitions (ie.
  MAI)
• Policy development becoming increasingly complex

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Tool for Consulting Citizens

• the main reason for the citizen to take part in
  a civic consultation is the presumption that this
  consultation will give him knowledge of the
  subject under discussion and influence on the
  policy-making process.
• From the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and
  Kingdom Relations manual on organizing electronic
  civic consultations

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Tool for Consulting Citizens

• Subject of the consultation should be presented
  from the citizens point of view
• Accompanying information should be presented in a
  form that is useful to citizens

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Tool for Consulting Citizens

• Consultation must be accessible to all and should
  be organized simultaneously with more traditional
  methods of interactive policy-making
• Process must be transparent - by making clear at
  which stage of the policy process the
  consultation is taking place and by spelling out
  the roles and responsibilities of all participants

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Government Use of Internet
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UK Online
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State of Victoria (Australia) www.dpc.vic.gov.au
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Bureau daudiences publiques sur lenvironnement
(Quebec) www.bape.gouv.qc.ca
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Suffolk County Council (UK) www.suffolkcc.gov.uk
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Greater Vancouver Regional District www.gvrd.bc.ca
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Greater Vancouver Regional District (British
Columbia)
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Bristol City Council(UK) www.bristol-city.gov.uk
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Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US) www.nrc.gov
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Parliament and Parliamentarians Sites

• News and information versus providing people with
  ways to make their views known to the
  parliamentarian

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Parliament and Parliamentarians Sites

• M.P.s need to ensure three things if they want
  constituents to use their sites The first is
  evidence that the web site exists primarily to
  let the MP and constituents interact, and signs
  that this is happening regularly. The moment a
  surfer thinks he or she is watching a party
  political web case, the next click will be to
  bring up Yahoo. The second requirement is
  competent design which makes the whole experience
  at least bearable The third and final demand
  will be a sense that the MP is an interesting,
  intelligent, likeable person who, most important,
  is more than just a tiny cog in a huge political
  machine.
• Tom Steinberg, researcher at the Institute of
  Economic Affairs

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Parliament and Parliamentarians Sites

• The strong tradition of responsiveness to
  constituent inquiries is being challenged by the
  combined use of multiple communications
  advances... How will these trends affect the
  tension between representing constituent and
  district concerns versus supporting national
  causes?... Will the ability to poll constituents
  online affect how Members develop positions on
  pending legislation? Will the democratization of
  the process result in diminshed party control and
  allegiance to leadership? As the public sees
  more of the internal workings of Congress in real
  time, how will the ability of Members to develop
  compromises and experiment with new approaches be
  affected.
• Congressional Research Service, House of
  Representatives

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Scottish Parliament (UK) www.scottish.parliament.u
k
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Senate Governmental Affairs Committee (US)
www.senate.gov
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Anne Campbell, MP (United Kingdom)
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Tim Collins, MP (UK) www.timcollins.co.uk
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Tim Collins, MP (United Kingdom)
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Roseanna Cunningham, MP UK www.almac.co.uk
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Edward Davey, MP UK www.edwarddavey.co.uk
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Rep. David Dreier US http//dreier.house.gov
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Paul Flynn, MP UK www.paulflynnmp.co.uk
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Sen. Patrick Leahy US www.senate.gov/leahy/
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Political Parties Sites
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Liberal Party of Canada www.liberal.ca
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Canadian Alliance www.canadianalliance.ca
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Ontario Progressive Conservative Caucus
www.ontariopccaucus.com
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Ontario Liberal Party www.ontarioliberal.com
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Democratic National Committee (US)
www.democrats.org
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Republican National Committee (US) www.rnc.org
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Labour Party (United Kingdom) www.labour.org.uk
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Conservative Party (UK) www.conservatives.com
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Private or Commercial Sites
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Minnesota E-democracy (US) www.e-democracy.org
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E The People (US) www.2.e-thepeople.com
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Grassroots.com (United States)
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Vote.com (United States)
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Challenges

• Attitudes - reluctance to change
• issue of choice to use older methods
• exclusive vs counterweight to elitism
• not just cost-benefit analysis - public good
• expectations too high to be responded to
• resources

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Bran Ferren, Chief Imagineer, Walt Disney Co.

• Trying to assess the importance of the Net now is
  like asking the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk if
  they were aware of the potential of frequent
  flyer programs .

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E-democracy

• Staying responsive and relevant to citizens.
• Hon. Paul Martin

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www.carolynbennett.com