The following stories are ^not related.
Canadians increasingly cynical about state of democracy: Hepburn
Voters are losing trust in the way Canada’s democracy works.
Nuh-uh!
Living in the Age of Dumbness
By Janice Kennedy, Ottawa Citizen
Right now, at least in North America, human civilization seems to be wallowing hip-deep in an Age of Determined Dumbness.
It’s depressing, and ironic. No other civilization has ever been as educated, informed and technologically advanced as ours.
Even in that article, there’s nary a mention of climate change or pollution to help make that point. There’s not a dumber fact of life than making short term ‘gains’ for known long term permanent pain. There’s also nothing more human. Pass the booze.
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff 
The root cause of cynicism is that the prime minister has WAY too much power. We need written rules to limit his/her powers as is done in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. We only have useless unwritten conventions that an all controlling pm can laugh at. Please read Democratizing the Constitution for some excellent solutions. I feel like a voice in the wilderness in trying to get this root cause discussed. Harper is quite happy to have cynical non voters. All he has to do- and he does it all too well- is get out his base on election day.