A Balancing Act

Traditionally, politicians have framed issues as binary choices. Don Lenihan and Andrew Balfour write that "the binary approach frames issues as a choice between two mutually exclusive options (either/or) and then picks a side."

But the pandemic and climate change are issues that defy binary framing. They require a balancing approach: "The balancing approach requires a leader to sort through both sides of an issue in search of middle ground."

And finding a middle ground can be difficult. Moreover, it is fraught with potential mistakes:

Policy analysts describe issues like the pandemic or climate change as complex, which means that each one is really a dynamic constellation of issues, rather than single and isolated.

The pandemic has led Doug Ford to make mistakes:

We see this in the strategies that Ford and other premiers are using to contain the virus, while protecting the economy. Sometimes they get the balance right, and sometimes they get it wrong. In hindsight, Ford’s decision to broaden the colour-coded categories turns out to have been a bad one.

Balancing requires that we follow the evidence -- and listen to the experts. But this is harder than it sounds:

Experts can provide real insight into the risks associated with different options, but it is not their job to tell the public how to weigh these risks against one another. Weighing risks involves value judgements and people with different values weigh them differently.

In the end, it falls to the premier to decide where the “right” balance lies. And that’s a tough call. If Ford got this one wrong, it is not because he is unconcerned about people’s health or indifferent to the risks. It is because first ministers are under enormous pressure both to protect public health AND save the economy.

Lenihan and Balfour conclude that there are two important lessons to be drawn about framing issues as a balancing act:

1. There is no “perfect” balance between these goals. People will always have differences. But there are better and worse choices and finding them would be much easier if everyone understood how complex issues work, why balancing is the right way to manage them, and how it differs from the binary approach.

2. Balancing is a learning process that involves trial and error, and the public needs to see the process working this way. Transparency is essential. To help realize this, critics should focus less on whether premiers like Ford get it right the first time, and more on whether they are learning the right lessons as they go.

Something to think about as we enter the new year.

Image: theatredirct.ca