Democracy and Service Delivery Renewal in Canada

Think of it: No more wild lurches between reckless largesse, followed by grim years of restraint; no borrowing to finance lower taxes, either. The government is denied the power to spend more than it takes in. In a recession, in order to maintain social programs, governments at all three levels would be forced to work together to reduce costs elsewhere in the system. They could start, perhaps, by trimming the bloated salaries of senior public administrators, whether in health care, policing or education.

Here's the thing that, for some reason, doesn't get discussed as much as it should - when you have a system that's designed like a series of fiefdoms, of course there is money lost to duplication, gaps and overlaps, while overall service delivery suffers.

You don't have to cut services to save money.  You don' t necessarily need to spend more for better services, either.  There is lots of money in the system that is being spent, but not being spent strategically.  It takes coordinated, specialized collaboration to achieve that level of forward-moving efficiency; a network, not a collection of silos.  The focus has to be on the two things people seem to have the most trouble doing; breaking old habits to form new ones appropriate for the times and giving up individual control for collective benefit.

Put it another way - the only way forward?  Together.