Why do some think decision-making by referendums, although intrinsic to our country’s political evolution since before Confederation, is un-Canadian? That voting by citizens undermines parliamentary democracy? That we’ve gained no insights from our own vast experience with “direct democracy,” so need alleged lessons from abroad?

In many ways, The Unbroken Machine began out of my own frustrations as a parliamentary journalist as to the kinds of lapses that I see around me on a daily basis. I see MPs who don’t understand their jobs and who burn all kinds of time and energy on things that aren’t their responsibility. I see my fellow journalists struggling to properly cover certain events without having a proper grounding in how our parliamentary system works, leading them to import American terms and ideas as though they were interchangeable with our own.