FOR political aficionados, the cusp of an election is a wonderful time. Everything and anything is possible.
Favourable outcomes can be dreamed, unexpected results routinely predicted, the impossible imagined.
Canadians are on the cusp of the 38th federal election since Confederation and for the first time since 1988, the outcome seems in doubt.
To be accurate, 1993 also had some drama but at the beginning, there seemed little chance that the rusty and inarticulate John Chrétien could compete with the slick and apparently popular Kim Campbell.
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(Memo to self: let that be a lesson about election predictions.)
But in election 2004, a different landscape raises fascinating possibilities. There is a new political party on the right, new leaders for the three mainstream parties, stirrings of support for the Green party and the certainty of a very different post-election Parliament missing some of the legendary political players of the past generation – Chrétien, Joe Clark, Deborah Grey and Herb Gray among them.
In their place, there will be a House of Commons with more rookies than at any time since 1993 and as the race starts, potential outcomes are as varied as a fourth Liberal majority, a first Conservative party majority or a minority by either party that could give a resurgent NDP the balance of power.
While not Paul Martin’s self-important “most important election in Canadian history,” it certainly is a time when possibilities are fascinating and political junkies are giddy.
Yet one of the first things we hear from academics and the office of the chief electoral officer are worries that the decline in Canadian voter turnout will continue and 2004 might produce the lowest voting percentage since the universal franchise.
Immigrants from countries where a chance to freely elect a government is not even a dream must find this apathy astounding.
Canadians who take pride and comfort in Canada’s democratic debate, freedoms and social or community structures built through the political process find it appalling.
Yet the evidence continues to mount that more and more Canadians are tuning out, finding politics irrelevant to their lives, too partisan or to out of touch with their issues.
Still, there are many great reasons to follow this election, to become informed and to cast a ballot.
Politics matter. Whether it’s the roads we drive on, the health-care system we use, the tax rates applied or the foreign policy decisions made, they are based on decisions made by politicians. It only makes sense to give yourself a say.
Politics are inevitable. Dropping out and refusing to take part doesn’t mean a government will not be elected. It just means the dropouts had no say in who it is.
You never know when you’ll need politicians. A year ago, many cattle producers may have thought that who got elected in Ottawa truly didn’t matter since they relied on markets and not politics for a living. A year and more than a billion public dollars later, how things look different.
Your vote counts. Even if the candidate you vote for does not win, election law says the vote counts toward how much the political party receives in public funding.
In contrast, a decision not to vote accomplishes nothing.
