Better democracy through technology

Michael Ignatieff lays out a democratic reform agenda that includes a smaller PMO, Access to Information reform, a study of online voting and a "people’s question period."

The plan, he said in an interview Sunday at his Stornoway residence, would see the prime minister and his cabinet take questions on-line from the Canadian people every week of the year. “We’d make sure we’d set up a system that everybody understands is not being filtered by the Prime Minister’s Office. … We would have to answer to ordinary Canadians on every question that they would bring up...

“You’ve got to listen to what people are saying and you’ve got to reply in real time. No pre-scripted questions, no planted questions. I think it would be sending an important signal to Canadians that we’re accountable.”