Non-Partisan Communications to Citizens

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    Open Government, Government of Canada. (2018, March 9). Non-Partisan Communications to Citizens. Retrieved from http://open.canada.ca/en/idea/non-partisan-communications-citizens
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    “Non-Partisan Communications to Citizens.” Open Government, Government of Canada, 9 March 2018, http://open.canada.ca/en/idea/non-partisan-communications-citizens
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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.
 

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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.