Primer on Public Involvement

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. François-Pierre Gauvin and Julia Abelson[Edit][Delete]: Primer on Public Involvement, Canadian Policy Research Networks [Edit][Delete] August 25, 2006

I always worry when someone promotes a new way to consult the public on health care, because the recent history of our system is that 85 percent of Canadians support the public system while business and government officials are forever trying to privatize it. This results in a cynicism about government, a cynicism that is frankly admitted at the beginning of this report. What follows is a good discussion of citizen participation in governance generally, and if you look for it you'll find what is for me a key factor: "participants must have a real impact on the policy and decision-making process. More...