CBC Asks: Is politics broken? Yes, says Alison Loat

Alison Loat is the co-founder of Samara, a non-partisan charity dedicatedto reconnecting citizens to politics and the co-author of Tragedy inthe Commons. Sheis also an instructor at the University of Torontos School ofPublic Policy and Governance.

Twitter @AlisonLoatFacebook@SamaraCda

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On March 25, Samara Canada, the charity I co-founded, will releaseDemocracy 360, a benchmark report card on the state of Canadas democracy.

This report card looks beyond simple voter turnout as a way to measure the quality of democracy.

It explores the everyday relationship between citizens and politics, painting a richer picture of how Canadians engage withand think aboutpolitics.It also expands the focus on leadership beyond prime ministers and party leaders to include members of Parliament and political party organizations.

Without revealing too much, this report card shows that Canadas democracy isnt working nearly as well as it should.Canadians are not involved in politics as they could be, dont believe it affects them, and dont see their leaders as influential or efficacious.

Citizens are at democracys heart, and enacting real change requires their participation. Unfortunately, the political process now repels more citizens than it attracts particularly young Canadians.

Building a political process that is truly democratic requires a culture shift toward everyday democracy, in which citizens believe politics is an effective route to make change, rather than something to be ignored or circumvented.

The coming federal election presents a critical opportunity to provoke all of us to help turn this situation around.