The People's Mandate: Referendums and a More Democratic Canada

Agar Adamson is the author of Letters of Agar Adamson, 1914–19 and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

While an undergraduate at Carleton, Patrick Boyer (currently
Progressive-Conservative MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore) became fixated with
direct democracy and, in particular, referendums and plebiscites. This,
the first of his two books on the subject, is a polemic advocating more
frequent referendums at all levels of government in Canada.

Boyer’s use of Swiss and Californian examples are slanted in favor of
his argument. He does not present the negative side of the issue,
particularly as it exists in California, where direct democracy is
having a detrimental impact on political parties and, indeed, on the
entire political process. Such Canadian advocates of the referendum as
the Reform Party would be well advised to examine the California
experience before trying to foist the process on Canadians.

It may be nit-picking, but when the author gets the gender of an
important player in the California process wrong and confuses the
profession of a Canadian writer on direct democracy, one has to question
his other examples.

In spite of these drawbacks, this is a useful, well-written, and
scholarly addition to the literature on democracy. If the events of
October 26, 1992, illustrated anything, it is that we are going to have
more national referendums in Canada and would therefore do well to
educate ourselves about this political tradition, which goes back to the
days of the Greek city-state.