Non-Partisan Communications to Citizens

Follow:

  • RSS
  • Cite
Votes: 9

The information we receive from our elected officials has become very self-serving.  They have comprehensive communication teams that put together convoluted press releases to spin their story in the most positive light.  They make promises then when asked for the progress on these promises, they either have selective amnesia or put a twist on the actual deliverable of the promise.  This behaviour by our elected officials has resulted in so many negatives:
1. Disengagement by society.  Those that are informed see what the elected officials (and our government) are doing and disengage because we think it's not possible to make a difference.
2. Uninformed constituency.  The Citizens are being mislead and making decisions with incorrect data.
3. This behaviour by our elected officials begets itself.  They see it works so continue to do it.  I truly believe they got into politics to make a difference, but when everyone else is doing it, they will all do it to compete and keep their seat.

It's my suggestion that government communications be non-partisan.  Having tax dollars spend by an elected official to build sophisticated communications team to sell us on what they are doing is wrong.  Communications, either through social media, broadcasting, etc needs to be fully transparent and no partisan benefit.  Furthermore, when an elected official makes a promise - be it at a fund raising event, on TV, in parliament, or any other time they commit to serving Canadians by delivering something, there should be a non-partisan record of that commitment for each elected official and a progress level tracked for that promise.  With regards to promises, if they make promises that are beyond their mandate, there should a different category for that promise which shows it's not going to happen unless this official gets re-elected which essentially translates to campaigning.
 

Add new comment

Rules of Engagement

We look forward to hearing from you. Your ideas and feedback are central to the development of both the Open Government portal and the Government of Canada’s approach to Open Government.

While comments are moderated, the portal will not censor any comments except in a few specific cases, listed below. Accounts acting contrary to these rules may be temporarily or permanently disabled.

Comments and Interaction

Our team will read comments and participate in discussions when appropriate. Your comments and contributions must be relevant and respectful.

Our team will not engage in partisan or political issues or respond to questions that violate these Terms and Conditions.

Our team reserves the right to remove comments and contributions, and to block users based on the following criteria:

The comments or contributions:

  • include personal, protected or classified information of the Government of Canada or infringes upon intellectual property or proprietary rights
  • are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Constitution Act, 1982
  • are racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic or defamatory, or contain or refer to any obscenity or pornography
  • are threatening, violent, intimidating or harassing
  • are contrary to any federal, provincial or territorial laws of Canada
  • constitute impersonation, advertising or spam
  • encourage or incite any criminal activity
  • are written in a language other than English or French
  • otherwise violate this notice

Our team cannot commit to replying to every message or comment, but we look forward to continuing the conversation whenever possible. Please note that responses will be provided in the same language that was used in the original comment.

Our team will reply to comments in the official language in which they are posted. If we determine the response is a question of general public interest, we will respond in both official languages.

Comments

Submitted by Lincoln Roderick on February 07, 2023 - 1:18 PM

Hi canada.ca admin, Your posts are always well-supported by facts and figures.

Submitted by Derek Stephen … on October 17, 2021 - 12:17 AM

Totally agree with the above statement, as it is so completely self-evident. Am dismayed this hasn't been the case from time immemorial, however it seems nothing will change until Canada dispenses with partisan party politics, similar to the Indigenous consensus governments in the territories.