Did you vote?

We have just been through another election a provincial one this time. Of all previous election this one was highly promoted. The newspapers, television and radio continuously encouraged the residents to come out and vote. The means to do it was made much easier; advance polling places were set up; the election ballot was made easily understood and ads inviting the people to vote were expressed in ten of the most often used languages in the community.
The results were quite disappointing. About 51% only of the 13,000,000 plus voters in Ontario came out to vote. That just about half of the qualified voters. The winning party the Liberals garnered 53 of the 107 seats in parliament. It needed just one more to make the win a majority. They made it, but not quite. The Liberal Party is still the ruling government but a minority one.
Looking at the numbers, the winning party won about 25% of all the votes of qualified Ontarian voters. This is indeed a dismal minority. Every time this government makes a decision we will be thinking that this is a decision of 25% of the representatives of this province.
This election has started to make me wonder why people in a democratic country like ours which is envied by other nations for its peace and relative prosperity do not take advantage of exercising their right to vote. Why is there a seeming apathy on whomever comes out to lead the nation? People in other parts of the world are fighting and giving up their lives to get rid of their dictatorial leaders while here in our country where we have the freedom to choose whom we believe are most able to lead, do not use that right.
Some friends I talked with told me that it does not seem to matter whoever gets elected. The results are the same; the rich remains richer and the poor stays poorer. Whichever party after a while, commits fraud or spends money lavishly” Look at the way those officials spend millions on air travel” one acquaintance said. “They keep on saying these are hard times and then they squander government money.”
Another pointed out broken promises. “Yes, we have universal health care,” someone said, but look at the high health tax that Ontarians now pay. Maybe this is chicken feed to the well-to-do but to middle class families this tax is heavy.”
But we have to look at both sides of the coin. During the Conservative Rule under Mike Harris, there was no health tax, but hospitals were closed, thousands of nurses were fired and people died during waiting time for surgery. The Liberal Government tried to solve those problems. Well, they needed money to accomplish their goals and that probably where the health tax went. But what about the almost a billion dollars squandered in e-health?
I am kind of wondering if the mini polls before the election had some adverse effects on the enthusiasm of qualified voters to cast their ballots. The results of these pre-election polls were almost accurate to the dot. What is the use of voting when you already know the results?
Let us look at some of the reasons why we should vote.
First, it is a very important right that gives us a voice in government.
Second, it gives us a motive to follow what our representatives are doing. Are they really working for the welfare of their constituents of just for themselves or their party? Look at what happened in Toronto. Its councillors were really put to a test when issues on the waterfront lands, daycare, garbage collection and closing of libraries were raised. Many Toronto residents held their breath as they waited for the decisions of the councillors in their wards. There were rumours of threats about losing memberships in important committees but in the end the councillors voted in favour of the will of the majority of the residents.
Third, it gives us a sense of pride that we have a participation in leading the community to the right path.
Fourth, elective officials are more responsible than appointed ones because they know they are answerable to their constituents.
Fifth, we can be instrumental in putting in position of leadership those people in the community whom we think are able.
In this last election, the issue of knowing one’s candidate emerged. We are not voting for the party; we are voting for the individual who will represent us. Do we know him? Do we understand his platform? Does he know the community he represents?. I believe in debates of candidates in every riding to make the people in their community know them. The door to door campaign is important. A few minutes of meeting a candidate gives an impression of the sincerity and commitment of the person.
Do you know Alex Chiu?. He has been representing Milliken for more than 20 years but he has not stopped doing door-to-door campaign in every election.
In the last election, it was the opinion of some members of the media that Tim Hudak lost even if he was way ahead at the beginning of the campaign because he did not get as much personal exposure to the public as Dalton McGuinty. Unless a person is 100% committed to a candidate or party or undecided, meeting an aspirant can help convince him to vote.
It is often said that a minority party does not last very long. Let’s wait and see here in Ontario. And if and when an election gets called before the end of the four years, let us participate and use our inalienable right to vote.*****