So, our Canadian election was yesterday. I realize it might not have the world's attention which the US election seems to instill, however, on a National level, I believe it should be paramount. Nonetheless, we had a historical low turnout for voting yesterday! What gives???
There was a time when only men could vote. Women and minorities had to fight for their right to vote, in sighting the need for a blessed change! But, it seems somewhere this “right” to vote has lost its value amongst Canadians. Personally, I believe it’s our civic duty to vote. In fact, in recent months we’ve all witnessed the challenges Zimbabwe citizens’ have faced in their attempts to vote – people wanted to vote and were discouraged, denied or even killed for this right! And here we are in a country with nothing preventing us from voting! I shake my head in shame…. I believe if you don’t vote you lose your right to complain about government.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this was one of the more difficult elections for me, where up until the day of election I wasn’t sure who I wanted to vote for. I had some disagreements with the platform of my normal party of choice. Additionally, I had the opportunity to speak with members from each party. I did my best to be an informed voter, and still found myself perplexed. But, really I couldn’t call myself a Canadian unless I voted. So, I made the commute from my training base in Michigan to my electoral region and voted!
The problem when no one shows up at the polls is you end up with a few Canadians deciding the fate of ALL Canadians. Perhaps, we should be able to have a smorgasbord of politicians being elected on certain issues (i.e. Budget, Health, Education, and Environment) and they are then forced to collaboratively work together. Wouldn’t that be an interesting option? Still, we should be glad that instead of having 2 parties to vote for, we had 6 parties!
For my American friends, please don’t make the same mistake as us. Show up and Vote. Your future depends on it!
Executing my Right to Vote,
Nicole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UaRXvRwhOk
There was a time when only men could vote. Women and minorities had to fight for their right to vote, in sighting the need for a blessed change! But, it seems somewhere this “right” to vote has lost its value amongst Canadians. Personally, I believe it’s our civic duty to vote. In fact, in recent months we’ve all witnessed the challenges Zimbabwe citizens’ have faced in their attempts to vote – people wanted to vote and were discouraged, denied or even killed for this right! And here we are in a country with nothing preventing us from voting! I shake my head in shame…. I believe if you don’t vote you lose your right to complain about government.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this was one of the more difficult elections for me, where up until the day of election I wasn’t sure who I wanted to vote for. I had some disagreements with the platform of my normal party of choice. Additionally, I had the opportunity to speak with members from each party. I did my best to be an informed voter, and still found myself perplexed. But, really I couldn’t call myself a Canadian unless I voted. So, I made the commute from my training base in Michigan to my electoral region and voted!
The problem when no one shows up at the polls is you end up with a few Canadians deciding the fate of ALL Canadians. Perhaps, we should be able to have a smorgasbord of politicians being elected on certain issues (i.e. Budget, Health, Education, and Environment) and they are then forced to collaboratively work together. Wouldn’t that be an interesting option? Still, we should be glad that instead of having 2 parties to vote for, we had 6 parties!
For my American friends, please don’t make the same mistake as us. Show up and Vote. Your future depends on it!
Executing my Right to Vote,
Nicole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UaRXvRwhOk
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