Direct democracy

Direct democracy comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein all citizens can directly participate in the political decision-making process. Some proposed systems would give people both legislative and executive powers, but most extant systems allow input into the legislative process only.

Direct democracy in Canada

In Canada, the use of citizens' assemblies (also known as an estates-general in the province of Quebec), involving citizen bodies chosen at random, is growing and avoids the disadvantages of older, more plebiscitary forms of direct democracy. The province of British Columbia recently set up a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform in which members were chosen at random for each riding. The citizens' assembly recommended the province use Single Transferable Voting (STV) to elect the provincial legislature, but it narrowly lost a referendum in 2005. Requiring 60% of the popular vote to pass, it only achieved 57.3%.

Related Topics:
Canada - Estates-general - Province - Quebec - British Columbia - Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform - Riding - Single Transferable Voting - 2005

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