The federal election campaign is much on our minds these days. Said Winston Churchill about the process: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
We’ve had quite a few conversations in recent weeks with “average” voters, and an oft-heard assessment of politicians is that “they’re all a bunch of crooks.”
Yet in this issue, on pages 26 and 27, you will find a list of 476 people who are running in western Canadian ridings and – you read it here first – they are not all crooks. They are people willing to represent us in government, for various reasons and under various banners. The selection committee is the Canadian electorate, however they choose to decide.
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If it’s good that voters are looking for, there’s a Goodman, a Goodale and a Duguid in the running. Respectively, they are Thomas in Selkirk-Interlake, Green;, Ralph in Wascana, Liberal; and Terry in Kildonan-St. Paul, Liberal.
Voters will also find that colour is represented, albeit in sombre tones. Brown, Black and Whyte are all in the race. (Alice, Okanagan Shuswap, NDP; Dawn, New Westminster-Coquitlam, NDP; and Roy, Surrey North, Green.)
Recognizing the polarity of politics, West, West and East are running. (Linda, Elmwood-Transcona, Conservative; Ben, Vancouver Quadra, Green; and Jack, Nanaimo-Cowichan, Marxist-Leninist.)
The Green party has numerous candidates who, based on name only, appear suited for the party’s pro-environment approach. It is running a Bird, a Fountain and a Baye, with a Power thrown in for good measure. (Brad, Brandon-Souris; Jeff, Churchill; Ed, Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon; and Ray, Burnaby-Douglas.) Dusty Miller (Nanaimo-Alberni) would seem a natural for the Greens, but instead is running as an independent.
If voters seek history in their decision making, they may be pleased to learn that John A. McDonald is running. (Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, Green.) So are Mulroney (David, Victoria, Liberal) and Trudeau (Alfred, Cariboo-Prince George, NDP.)
And has any candidate a more intriguing name than Dionysus Heathcliff, running in Vancouver Centre for the Marijuana party?
The point here, however clumsily made, is that voters have choices. Failure to vote is not a protest of the system. Rather, it is a democratic opportunity squandered.
Churchill sums it up nicely: “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government – except for all those other forms that have been tried.”
