In only two more days we will know who will be at the wheel of this big bus we call Canada. Two more days to pencil into your calendar the 20 minutes it will take to vote on May 2. This is the dilemma — most likely you won’t vote. In the past 30 years, federal elections have drawn increasingly fewer voters. If this election follows the course, approximately 57.7 per cent of eligible voters will have their voices heard on Tuesday. So why do so few of us choose to exercise this basic right, the very keystone of democracy? Simple — it’s not important. We have simultaneously become overwhelmed by election information and disconnected from the election process. There is an overload of information available to us every day via every medium and yet we feel increasingly removed.
Fifty years ago, Canadians would most likely have met their member of Parliament at church, a community group or at a local debate. Canadians were connected to the process in however small a way and felt each vote could impact the outcome of the issues that faced the nation. Canadians viewed the opportunity to vote as their duty. Perhaps that is why the historical voter turnout peak was in 1958 when nearly 80 per cent of Canadians exercised this right. The first televised debate was only in 1968 and, from that point forward, Canadians could choose to engage from their living room, watching party leaders debate the issues of the day and making their political decisions without a personal connection. The roadmap to apathy has been slow. The more information we have, the less we feel our vote has a meaningful impact on the decisions that are made.
Today there is a plethora of mainstream information sources on TV, newspaper and radio for election news, announcements and information. This election also includes the ever-present social media. I now have (or choose) to decipher election promises and policy announcements in 140 characters or less or by clicking the “like” button. While access to information about all that is political has grown exponentially over the past 30 years, our desire to have a say in the political process has diminished. With 85 per cent of Albertans having Internet access, we can read the news online, listen to the radio online and even virtually put pen to paper to share our thoughts on the World Wide Web. We can engage in the process through blogs, comments and email. If you have questions about this election, post to your Facebook status or tweet a question (#elxn41) or just email your friends and start an email discussion. Start the conversation with friends tonight and connect, not only to your friends but to our collective future.
I believe there are no problems without solutions. I offer the following — in order to get engaged in the process, take baby steps. Decide who you are voting for and vote. It is your duty as a Canadian. Commit to the political process and put the 20 minutes in your calendar … in pen. Voting is the first step in getting involved in decisions that affect you, your community and your country. See you at the polls.
Tanya Doran is a community member with an affinity for all things green.
