Will we still be skipping the democracy post-pandemic?

National Post, 08 May 2021

When does a crisis response become a permanent shift in democratic culture?

Skip-the-democracy, anyone? Uber edicts?

Life will not be the same after the pandemic. Companies will do more meetings via video call than in person, saving tens of thousands of dollars for corporations and putting thousands of low-paid hospitality staff permanently out of work. Restaurant workers might face the same predicament. What will happen to those Korean barbecue places, which have you cook their food in their restaurants, when all sorts of services will deliver their food for you to cook at home?

Will our democracy be the same?

We have lived a year in which parliamentary democracy and judicial review have been almost entirely usurped by decrees. Much of that has been by the cabinet, using its regulatory powers under various public health and quarantine laws. Other decrees have been made by public health officials themselves, who are not elected.

These measures have largely not been debated in the legislatures, even ex post, let alone ex ante. Very few measures have been passed by statute, let alone been subject to the usual committee hearings and review.

It took almost a year before any of the measures were tested in court for their constitutionality.

Fair enough, emergencies are emergencies and all governments are permitted to move quickly when needed. Democracy can be slow; indeed, it is meant to be slow enough to permit dissenting views to be heard, for debates to be had, for a consensus to develop.

After a year though, when does an emergency mentality shift simply into a change of mentality altogether? When does a crisis response become a permanent shift in democratic culture?

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