Letter 8 in the College of Politicians Series

Another letter, this one addressed to the leader of the NDP party, Jagmeet Singh.

Enjoy!

Thank you :)

Jagmeet Singh

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario,

Canada

K1A 0A6

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Dear Jagmeet.

RE: Protected title: Registered Politician.

I am advocating for a College of Politicians of Canada whose role is to protect the public from politicians. This is similar to how a college of nurses works to protect the public from nurses. A College protects the public by restricting its work to people who will not overtly harm the public through some physical action, or covertly harm the public through indirect means such as policy. Promoting the safety of the public must be a basic requirement of employment as an elected official and a college is needed to investigate behaviour that poses a risk to public safety and well-being.

Regulation of politicians is required because the public is at risk of harm from the actions of politicians. Personal, belief-based practices (rather than evidence-based practices), negligence, or conflict of interest, are phenomena that are regulated in nursing because they can overtly harm the public. These phenomena are not exclusive to nursing but also exist among humans tasked with governing the populace. Nurses are tasked with caring for the public; similarly, politicians by governing are also tasked with caring for the public. As such, politicians ought to be held to the same standards as other members whose work affects the health and safety of the public.

Lack of regulation of politicians can lead to long-term harm of the public. Police officers are held to standards of equal force when working with the public. Their physical force is regulated to protect the public from immediate harm. Politicians need similar regulation related to their policy development and its impact on the public’s long-term health and safety (rather than immediate as in policing). A college’s role would be to assess the safety of legislation on the public before implementing it and to monitor its action to ensure it works as was intended, or whether it is appropriate to implement another plan to ameliorate systemic, decade-long problems within our country. And by this manner, a college protects the public and politicians are held accountable for contemporary problems or woes of our society.

The average person lacks political literacy and resources to hold politicians accountable. Canadians use the electoral system to endorse a specific person or party; It is not meant to hold politicians to answer for their actions. The process of accountability is dynamic, occurring throughout their elected employment, and requires specific knowledge in order to ask appropriate questions – something the average person lacks the power to implement on their own. Lastly, political accountability requires authority, authority given by a mandate to protect the public.

We are at the precipice of accountability of politicians. This elected occupation must be regulated to protect the public. Please see my letter addressed to the prime minister (attached) for further arguments in favour of this discussion. I believe the NDP trailblazed by advocating for universal healthcare. Now it is time to trailblaze again, and become serious about the health and safety of Canadians by ensuring our leaders do not endanger the health and safety of the public, just as we demand of other professions.

Thank you.