Voting is just the beginning for Peter MacLeod, a national leader in democratic innovation and co-author, with Richard Johnson, of Democracy’s Second Act. 

MacLeod and Johnson argue democracy’s first act cemented voting rights and representative government. Free elections, near-universal suffrage, and the peaceful transfer of power reshaped societies and expanded human freedom. 

For MacLeod, this achievement represents what democracy can be, not its completion. His book shows with clear direction what must come next: not just representative democracy, but a true, participatory democracy that engages its most valuable resource: citizens. 

Mr. MacLeod is a prime mover in what he called “Canada’s greatest export,” the participatory mechanism of Citizen’s Assemblies invented in Canada and now entrenched across northern Europe as a means of engaging citizens on tough decisions. Employing a lottery selection process, Citizens Assemblies operate like large juries; members learn everything important about a topic before coming to a set of consensus-based recommendations. For MacLeod and Johnson, they offer an important demonstration of the effective engagement of ordinary people in self-governance. 

“This is a really tough moment to be talking about democracy, because if we look around the world, a lot of the things we maybe take for granted in this country are by no means guaranteed, and are certainly under threat,” he said before a full house at the Picton Branch Library earlier this month. 

“We have to marshal whatever resources we can to hold onto the incredible democratic inheritance we’re all the beneficiaries of — and carry it forward.” 

As though to demonstrate the truth of the argument, the talk was well attended and highly engaged, with audience members directing much of the proceedings through informed questions.