Just Trust Us
The Erosion of Accountability in Canada
- Publisher
- Dundurn Press
- Initial publish date
- Feb 2003
- Category
- Democracy, Civics & Citizenship, History & Theory
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781550024319
- Publish Date
- Feb 2003
- List Price
- $22.99
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781459718494
- Publish Date
- Sep 2014
- List Price
- $8.99
Add it to your shelf
Where to buy it
Description
J. Patrick Boyer draws together new patterns that help explain why Canadians who care deeply about our country nevertheless feel perplexed, angered, and even embarrassed by the way we now govern ourselves.
Since the late 1700s "representative government" has been part of our Canadian birthright, and since the 1800s "responsible government" has additionally been a constitutional foundation of our country. That the forms of both endure, but not their substance, is the thesis of Boyer’s book. The result? An absence of accountability in Canadian government.
Most of our country’s pressing concerns and complex problems - from regional economic disparities to the Quebec and Western Canadian separatist movements, from tax evasion to voter apathy - can be traced back to this fundamental lack of accountability. A citizen who understands this absence sees that it makes sense to step back from a dysfunctional system. Making this accountability connection is critical, Boyer concludes, because only when we clearly understand the root cause of the problems we face as a nation can we begin to develop workable, long-term solutions.
About the author
PATRICK BOYER grew up using the Bracebridge Carnegie Library. His mother had once been the librarian and his grandfather chairman of the library board. Patrick has an MA in history from the University of Toronto and is author of some 18 books. Patrick Boyer, lawyer, author, teacher and former parliamentarian, is himself author of many books, including Just Trust Us (2003), Leading in an Upside-Down World (2003), Direct Democracy in Canada (1992), and The People's Mandate (1992).
Other titles by
Forcing Choice
The Risky Reward of Referendums
Foreign Voices in the House
A Century of Addresses to Canada's Parliament by World Leaders
The Big Blue Machine
How Tory Campaign Backrooms Changed Canadian Politics Forever
Our Scandalous Senate
Hardscrabble
The High Cost of Free Land
Another Country, Another Life
Calumny, Love, and the Secrets of Isaac Jelfs
Raw Life
Cameos of 1890s Justice from a Magistrate's Bench Book
Solitary Courage
Mona Winberg and the Triumph over Disability
A Passion for Justice
How 'Vinegar Jim' McRuer Became Canada's Greatest Law Reformer
Local Library, Global Passport
The Evolution of a Carnegie Library