How To Enhance Democracy Through Participatory Budgeting
With calls for transparency in defining the processes used by governments to create budgets, PB programs offer Canada a chance to enhance civic engagement levels with respect to bottom-up policymaking
By Linda Bùi
AS ELECTED OFFICIALS AND CIVIL SERVANTS make decisions to stretch fiscal resources, there is also the pressure to ensure the prudent use of taxpayers’ dollars, and an equal need to enhance citizen participation in policymaking. One program gaining traction is participatory budgeting (PB), where community members have agency to vote on the allocation of a public budget.
Take the case of Boston, the state capital of Massachusetts – where voters “approved a ballot measure to create an Office of Participator budgeting” during the city’s 2021 municipal elections. Similar frameworks are already in place across many cities in the world. First introduced in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989, driven by a social movement to democratize budget decisions, PB programs have since been introduced to over 7,000 cities globally. In fact, almost half of Brazil’s cities have adopted PB and dedicate 5 to 15 percent of a city’s total budget, with some programs committing upwards of 100 percent of capital spending projects.
While there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to PB, the process in general, includes:
A defined geography or local authority that will have a say in the process
Diverse stakeholders including citizens, the locally elected government, and city staff involved in the process
A defined schedule for deliberation and voting on elements in the budget
A defined scope on what can be allocated and how implementation will take place
Reporting, monitoring, and evaluation mechanisms.
PB programs have flourished mostly in Latin and South America, across parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia, and are being considered more widely in North America. As more PB programs are being piloted in Canada, they remain largely in their infancy. Predominantly at the municipal level, PB programs, with limited time, scope, and dedicated funding, have been introduced in major cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and some small-and-medium sized municipalities. Among them, only the City of Montréal has committed to an annual program that will run until at least 2030, with a relatively larger dedicated funding pool. Despite growing popularity, community members have raised questions regarding the efficacy of PB programs and the impact on civic engagement.
From 2015-2018, I participated in PB-adjacent opportunities, including serving on citizen-appointed committees with the City of Brampton such as the community grants committee. While not a full-scale PB program, it was one of the first opportunities the city allowed for residents to have a say in funding allocations. Our committee adjudicated grant proposals from community-based organizations based on dedicated grant streams from arts and culture, sports, and recreation festivals, and special events. Our recommendations were based on criteria such as how the project would meet the needs of the community and the feasibility of the project plan. In its inaugural year in 2015, the city adopted our recommendations to fund over 35 projects, totaling more than $ 690,000.
In 2018, Brampton also introduced its largest public consultation to gather citizens’ input to inform the Brampton 2040 Vision: Living the Mosaic, an aspirational framework to guide future development and city-building. City staff organized consultations in shelter homes, at transit stops, and across community hubs – beyond city council chambers. The strategic plan sets out priorities based on these neighborhood-based and community-centered consultations.
Personally, I engaged in an open visioning session as well as a two-day intensive, where a cross-selection of 100 citizens came together to consolidate the major themes from over 11,000 residents’ insights. Through a process of participatory democracy, Brampton 2040 was unanimously adopted by elected officials. However, unlike the Montréal model, there is currently no PB program with annual funding earmarked in Brampton.
While there are many benefits to PB programs, it is not a perfect process. There are barriers to participation ranging from accessibility (i.e. scheduling, transit access), the costs associated with participating (i.e. opportunity cost of attending the PB program instead of working), and apathy towards PB programs (i.e. experiences of tokenism, consultation fatigue). Many individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in decision-making spaces, namely those from the IBPOC (Indigenous, Black and people of colour) community are increasingly being called upon to participate in these consultations, yet bureaucratic or stagnant processes lead many to feel disempowered towards these programs.
Tweaking programs, through a participatory process, can encourage further PB program expansion to more jurisdictions. All levels of governments in Canada provide citizens with an opportunity to engage in a pre-budget process, however, it is largely passive through oral deputations or written submissions. It is the government that sifts through proposals and has the ultimate power to pass budgets, regardless of public feedback. That is why mandating PB through budget cycles, such as allowing citizens to set at least 5 to 15 percent of the public budget, if not more, would be an act of deliberative democracy. Localizing consultations by neighborhood improves accessibility, allowing more community members to physically connect across lived experiences.
If governments value democratic decision-making, improvements in transparency, governance, accountability, and equitable distribution of public resources, this should be demonstrated through the budget process. From the Porto Alegre to the Montréal models, there are many examples to build future PB programs. Ensuring a bottom-up approach towards empowering citizens to have their say in curating state capacity, via the integration of PB programs, is surely a policy sphere which should be prioritized in the years to come.
Linda Bùi (she/her) is a Master of Public Policy candidate and McCall MacBain Scholar at McGill University. Passionate about civic and equity issues, she co-founded the Girls Empowerment Movement and Empowered Phụ Nữ. She has worked with the Council of Ontario Universities and Ontario’s Legislative Assembly.