Unsolicited thoughts about the 2019 election — Part 3
I’ll be one of the 2 in 3 Canadians who will or already have cast a ballot in this upcoming election. I’d ideally like that other third of the country to vote, but it’s not so black and white.
To get that other third to turn out, in good conscience, I cannot bully them into exercising their right to vote. It would be just another example of the old stories and the old attitudes of the Canadian political elite. To think people can just simply do something.
Hot take incoming: I’m not moved by the whole get out the vote campaign by Canadian millennials who invoke Rick Mercer’s ugly face on Facebook. I don’t think anyone would be moved to vote if they were directly accused of being complicit in deaths abroad under oppressive autocrats.
I’m also not into the whole strategic voting idea. We need the strongest possible House of Commons that is representative of everyone in Canada and not representative of Canadians who feel like they are held hostage.
I also don’t buy the idea that a certain election is the most important election in our lifetime. When we get to pick 338 people to make the tough calls for our country every so often, I’m pretty sure they’re all equally important. It seems like in some elections, some voters just are complacent or asleep at the wheel.
Further to that, an election is not the only time to take action in your community. What would we really be if we weren’t serving our communities outside of an election campaign?
Like I said four years ago, we need to talk to Canadians, not at Canadians.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13: Who I voted for