MAKING choices is one of the most human of activities and also one of our most difficult and dangerous. Yet making choices is essential to building the lives of individuals and communities.
In coming months, I will discuss items related to making choices, and their impact on Canadians today, as we try to build a moral economy for the 21st century.
As a parent, grandparent and community leader, I have worked with successive generations in helping them discover how to make choices – hopefully good choices.
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I know that when people do not see the possibility of choices, they become frustrated, angry and even suicidal. I have buried people who felt themselves trapped in such circumstances.
One of the key elements in making choices is information. We need information to understand options.
For example, information about prices that farmers are likely to get for their crops in the fall helps determine spring seeding choices. Their understanding of technology and international trade are factors to consider.
People can have major problems when they cannot get the information they need.
This problem occurs with our federal government.
Prime minister Stephen Harper keeps hiding from the media and yet blaming the media for his problem.
Successive Republican presidents in the United States have used this tactic to control information that ordinary citizens and taxpayers receive. This is just one example of how heavily Harper relies on American tactics and policies.
It is also why the party he leads is coming to be know, in some circles, as “the Republican Party of Canada.” Harper insists that communications by cabinet ministers be cleared through his office.
Carol Skelton, MP for my riding of Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, holds several cabinet responsibilities. On May 2, I wrote her a letter at the same e-mail address she uses for sending information to constituents and to which I have written before. The e-mail didn’t bounce, so I know it was sent to an accurate address.
When Skelton was an opposition MP, she or her staff replied promptly to inquiries. Now, as a cabinet minister, she has yet to acknowledge receipt of my letter, let alone respond. I take this to be an example of how tightly the prime minister controls what his cabinet colleagues can say.
Yet information about government programs can be extremely important, for individuals and communities, in making choices and enacting changes. This includes information about taxes and government aid programs.
Information alone does not lead to effective choices. The ability to understand the implications of that information, to process that information, is crucial.
The understanding and support of others who will help with the choice-making process can also be vital. So is someone’s willingness to embrace the risks involved in making choices and changes.
Rob Brown is a writer and broadcaster now doing graduate studies in ethics.
