| What does good government policy look like? | Good government policy is rooted in facts, draws from the experience of many people, puts safeguards in place, and is executed with skill and care. When the stakes are high, this often requires some regulation. |
In May 2000, seven people died after drinking contaminated water in a rural Ontario town called Walkerton. I was a research assistant during the inquiry that followed the Walkerton Tragedy — a profound moment to begin a career in environmentalism. I’ve been thinking a lot about that time and how it compares to today’s topsy-turvy world. I’m worried about society and the people who are leading many of the world’s most powerful institutions. But I also draw tremendous strength from what I learned in the aftermath of Walkerton, and I think you might too. Here are a few hard-won lessons from that time. — Krystyn
When the sun rose over the small town of Walkerton, Ontario on May 17, 2000, tragedy was already underway. Deadly bacteria lurked in the water that flowed through pipes snaking their way beneath the town. It came from fields dotted with cows not far from one of the town wells. With each turn of the tap and each sip of water, e. Coli 0157:H7 passed from pipe to person. Two thousand three hundred times that bacteria made someone sick; half of the town fell ill, and seven people died.
The Walkerton Tragedy, as the event became known, unfolded twenty-five years ago. Over the course of nearly two weeks, families and neighbours lost people they loved. In the aftermath, one-third of the people infected developed chronic health disorders. Two brothers faced criminal charges. Ontario’s drinking water legislation was remade. And a new era in public health and environmental policy in Ontario began.
Within a month of the outbreak, the Ontario government launched an official inquiry. I was a research assistant in my first full-time job. During this two-year process I witnessed how public health programs, government policy, and the simplest of actions can save or destroy lives.
Twenty-five years later, the same forces that led to the Walkerton Tragedy are swirling around us again.
I recognize the patterns:
Many of the lessons I learned from Walkerton seem more relevant today than ever before. So I’m sharing a few with you, to help you navigate this topsy-turvy time.
The first phase of the Walkerton Inquiry was spent figuring out what happened leading up to the outbreak. That fact-finding process took nine months. Arguments about what should be done next only began in earnest once the facts had been established and people directly involved had testified.
Public discourse today is not so methodical. Opinion and ideology typically come first; then facts are selected (or made up) to fit an argument.
Pundits seem more interested in scoring points than in finding truth, and society suffers for it. When people don’t take time to gather facts, they push solutions that don’t work. They invite more tragedy into people’s lives instead of actually solving problems.
No one person alone could have explained Walkerton. It took 114 witnessesto paint a picture of the tragedy and its causes. To get at the truth, every witness’s account was scrutinized; even the Premier of Ontario was cross-examined.
Today, we expect issues to be quickly and easily explained. We listen to one person and think we’ve heard the whole story. We criticize scientists and politicians who say, “I don’t know yet,” and we reward people who claim to have all the answers. Theories that promise to explain every situation spread quickly, with little scrutiny.
This craving for certainty doesn’t lead to progress. If we want to achieve good things, we must be willing to tolerate uncertainty and keep an open mind.
From the “common sense revolution” to “drain the swamp“, partisan slogans promoting cost-cutting and deregulation sound great to a lot of people. After all, who doesn’t know that waste is bad?
The thing is, redundancy and duplication aren’t always wasteful. In high-stakes situations, what critics call “redundant” are actually safeguards. Safeguards ensure systems operate properly, even when mistakes are made or accidents occur. We depend on safeguards for our lives.
In the time leading up to the Walkerton Tragedy, incompetence undermined every safeguard. The brothers who ran the water system were hired by their father as teenagers. Both were exempt from modern training programs. Both “lied and cheated to cover their tracks.” And weak governance let them operate like that for years. This should never have happened.
Too often, people occupy leadership roles for the wrong reasons — and they have help doing it. Their supporters value familiarity, charisma, or grand promises more than skill. Once in charge, loyalty trumps ability.
Leaders have enormous real-world responsibility, though. They make decisions that affect people’s lives for better and for worse. As boring as it may sound, competence — not celebrity or familiarity — saves lives.
In the end, the Inquiry concluded that we need enforceable laws if we want to ensure drinking water systems operate safely. I think the same is true for many high-stakes activities.
Walkerton showed us that we can’t achieve the goals we say we want to achieve if we don’t also put systems in place to achieve them. We don’t get the rewards we want unless we put in the effort.
The Walkerton Tragedy is a reminder that politics isn’t just a trending topic on social media. Issues aren’t just things debated by pundits and commentators to help grow their audience or sell products. The consequence of government action — and inaction — can be life and death.
So it’s right to care. It’s good to care. And the more competent and diligent and open-minded you can go about it, the better.
Partisanship, polarization, and gamesmanship are more commonplace than in 2000. Democracy is fragile, and misinformation and disinformation aren’t helping.
The world needs serious people. It also needs people who are willing to step away from the nuances and details of policy and spend time reminding people about the basics: like why public health is a good thing, why environmental protection is good, why social safety nets and health care are worth supporting.
Whatever you do and however you do it, your actions make a difference. If nothing else, that is the lesson we need to take from Walkerton: one person’s choices can change the course of history.
Choose wisely.
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