George Jean Nathan, an American journalist, critic and essayist from the early 20th century, wrote that, "Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote."
As we launch into a federal election -Canada's fourth in the past seven years - on Monday (May 2), we need to be aware of this truism and resolve to make our voices heard. Participation is, after all, key to the proper functioning of our democratic system. One need only look to countries where tyranny has reigned for decades at a time (Egypt, Libya) to recognize the importance of leaders periodically seeking and obtaining the true will and mandate of the people, for it is from the people that their authority emanates. Is this the direction our citizens want us to go? If not, it's time for a change.
In Canada, as in other Western countries, voter turnout has been on a steady decline for the past half-century. It peaked at 79 per cent in the general election of 1958, when Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker won what was then the largest majority government in our country's history.
Exactly 50 years later, in 2008, voter turnout nationwide was just 58.8 per cent, despite the fact that we were in the midst of a deepening global financial crisis that threatened to plunge Canada and the rest of the world into recession. Why? Any number of possible explanations have been posited: disaffection with our established parties, or with politicians of all stripes; a general feeling that government is powerless to effect real change in the lives of individuals and society as a whole.
But there's reason to believe that this time might be different, and that overall voter turnout might actually increase -markedly, we would hope. On Monday (April 26), Elections Canada estimated that more than 2 million Canadians showed up to vote in advance polls over the previous few days. That compares to just over 1.5 million who showed up at advance polls in 2008. On Friday (April 22), more than 676,000 Canadians voted, while more than 823,000 voted on Monday (April 25) -the two busiest days of advance voting ever.
For a country that - according to the current ruling party - didn't want an election, Canada seems positively jazzed about this election, eh? Or could it be that more people simply decided to beat the rush to the polls on Monday?
In our own riding, voter turnout in the 2008 election was 64.45 per cent -above the national average, but still the second-lowest on record (63.81 per cent turned out for the 2000 election, which was won handily by Canadian Alliance member John Reynolds).
This time around, voters in West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country have nine candidates from which to choose. While a couple of those certainly seem focused on one or two issues, the thoughts and ideas have been flowing like water at candidates' forums across the riding. One website, Project Democracy (www.projectdemocracy.ca) calls our riding a "key contest."
Whatever your feelings, we urge you to get out on Monday and exercise your right to have a say in how our region is represented in Ottawa and how our country is governed.
