I recently got a chance to visit Canada as part of International
attachment through the National Institute
of Financial Management. This article is part of the series to share my
experiences about governance system in Canada. At the outset I would like to
thank NIFM, my academy National Institute of Communication Finance and the Government
of India for giving us the opportunity.
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| At the York Region Council |
We have a faint idea about Canada. Usually, it’s in connection with
number of Punjabis there (!) Compared to its southern neighbor, Canada is
peaceful, its not embroiled in continuous wars and plays a rather marginal role
in global politics beyond the Pacific-Atlantic circle. Both our nations were under
same colonial rulers (though under very different circumstances). We have
similar governance structures and that was the core reason for our study tour,
i.e. to get the feel of one of the
leading government system in the western world.
The first impression of Canada being more
than what we know was midair. Air Canada announcements were being carried out
in both English and French. I did not know about a significant French speaking
population in the Canada, and the history attached with it. Suddenly then the
French sounding names of cities in Canada; Montreal, Quebec started make sense.
French speaking population dominates half part of eastern Canada, north of
Ottawa River.
I won’t discuss the history of
French-English conflict in Canada here. But the Canadians have developed
bilingual framework for governance. There are many posts in government for
which ‘Professional fluency in both English and French’ is required. The difference
in French and English dominated areas is evident in economy and administration
as well. But they have managed to rise above that.
The next impression of Canada is that of vastness. The country is just
huge. Being a developed economy, there are expansive roads, bridges, rail lines
and the entire infrastructure. But the visitors keep having question, “Where
are the people?”
For an eye trained at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai to
witness the sea of humanity, Canada feels like an alien planet. To put it in
perspective, entire Canadian population is 33 million. Extrapolate that to
India, and you will not be able to fill Mumbai and Delhi, whose combined population
is 40 million! Total India is 1250 Million!
Though the strategies of governance are different, the core principles remain.
And there were more than a few things to learn during the attachment.
The orientation of governance in Canada is
citizen centric. So the systems are designed taking into consideration ease of
the citizens. At every level, ‘ease of doing business with the government’ is
top priority. The receptionists are well trained; they direct you to
appropriate officer. There are carry home leaflets about the works done at the
office and about the local administration including Local transport. Airports
have a simple machine with ‘emoji’
inspired buttons asking ‘How are you feeling today about the airport? The
options vary from worse to excellent. They are regularly monitored to get a
real time feedback. It’s simple and effective instrument. In India, we have a
system of Citizen Charters, but not implemented well enough to bring ease for
common man. We certainly need to improve that.
The difference in service delivery between India and Canada is stark. It
has to do with the resource availability, population to be served and the
difference of needs. It’s very easy to go to a developed country, be
mesmerized, compare it with India and paint a bleak picture of home. We need to
understand that India and Canada stand at different places in the time quadrant
of governance. Canada has been evolving since Industrial revolution. India was
‘drained of its wealth’ for 150 years which became capital for development of
colonial economies, which in turn improved the governance. All the nations in
west adopted democracy as the need and offshoot to protect capitalism. We
Indians adopted and have cherished democracy as a way of life. So the
difference in performance is going to be there. Again, this can’t be the reason
for the inadequacies or complacency. The point I want to make is that the
comparison should be a studied one, not simplistic.
Governance caters to the demands raised by
citizens, which are dominated by their income structure. In India, we need to
provide significant social assistance to the population and rightfully so. In
Canada, the thrust is more upon effective service delivery even if it means
higher tax burden. An average taxpayer in Canada ends up paying 50% of his/her
income as tax from Municipal to Federal level. That naturally generates expectations,
which are voiced much stronger. To substantiate:
The government response to a rich farmer in New Brunswick, who pays 50%
of income as tax; and the government response to poor farmer living out of
government subsidies in Bilaspur is going to be different, no matter what. It
also doesn’t mean, Canada doesn’t have corruption. We have also seen the governance
improvement analogous to increasing income levels in India as well.
Despite high taxes, Canadians don’t seem to
complain because they can see the tax dollars being put to good use. And they
derive the comfort out of it. In the financial district of Toronto, more than
85% people come to work through public transport. It’s a choice than compulsion,
because the public transport is particularly efficient. On the flip side, it is a hard life for the lower income families. The
cost of living in Canada is significantly high, even for the essential
services. Those families are provided help in form of direct assistance. We couldn’t
interact any of them in person, so I won't comment on the quality of help given
to them.
Indian governance system was designed by an alien government that wanted
to put in place a ‘Steel frame’ to keep the population in check
and extract as much gains possible. Naturally such a system is based on ‘Mistrust’.
That’s why we have More of Government and Less of Governance. The Prime
Minister has been candid about this, and we are now working to improve it. Canadians
have evolved the system from the colonial to citizen centric,
and the
government trusts the people. Naturally transacting with
government
is very simple. No one needs to produce ‘Attested copies’ at every juncture or provide
ridiculous amount of documentation for Passport. Plus, the efficient and
integrated use of technology reduces the procedure even more. The simple
example of this trust is: Passengers need to buy the tickets to show at
Bus/Metro stations. It is a single ticket that one can use for journey across
different platforms. The passengers are asked to show the tickets at very rare
occasions. The bus driver assumes that everyone is following the rule, which the people actually do. It doesn't mean there are no
freeloaders. But the majority follows the rule. And there are severe penalties on breaking
the law. We saw a signboard saying penalty for drunken driving is $10,000
(Rupee equivalent is 5 Lakh). I actually came across a person who was charged
and had to pay the fine. The amount so high, you can actually buy a car. That's a great lesson that, Rule of Law emerges out of the people following
rules themselves, not imposed upon.
One more amusing fact of Canada is Her Majesty the Queen! The British
Monarch is the official head of the state, even today. Almost all the
foreigners and certainly Indians do ask this question, why? The answer often
is, “Because it’s been there for a long time”. The British heritage love
towards tradition (that even our system has) percolates deep into Canadian
system as well. Nonetheless, Canadians just love her. Whenever she travels to
Canada, she gets a jubilant welcome.
Canadian system is quasi federal, just like India. The Governor-General is
equivalent to the President and the Provincial Governor to the Governor of a
State. But the structure is more federal in comparison to India. To
substantiate: Canadian Provincial Premier (i.e. Chief Ministers) suggests the
name of the person to be appointed as Governor, who is then appointed by the
PM. In India Governor’s role is often a matter of friction between Centre and
State, who is appointed by the President on the recommendations of the Union
Govt. One prominent reason for this federalism seems to be the relative
financial independence of Provinces to the States. That is not to say all is
smooth. There are points of friction and conflict in federal and provincial
government. But for the maturity of centuries old system can resolve those
disputes amicably.
To sum it up, Canada has a wonderful system of governance which is
Citizen Centric and responsive. I have tried to set the tone of my observations
in this post, specially the comparison with India. In the next part I would
discus more about financial administration of Canada and the municipal
governance. The concluding part will have observations about the people and
culture.
See you in the next blog!
