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I don't want to comment directly about last night's Ontario election, given that it has been incisively and very competently observed by others already. However, I want to address a comment my friend Tom, who voted Liberal, made on Facebook:
And here's why the system is broken: @51% voter turnout -- up marginally from the historic low of the 2007 provincial election. The winning party gets 38.6 % of those who voted, which means in the neighborhood of 19-20 % of the eligible vote -- but they have a comfortable, some have said overwhelming, majority!
I replied:
What you say is true, Tom, but barring electoral reform, the easiest way to remedy this problem is for more people to vote. As you may know, I have no sympathy for those who say they don't vote because there is no one to vote for, or they don't 'do' politics, etc. Laziness and inertia and apathy are poor reasons not to participate in the rights and responsibility of citizenship. In fact, to be quite honest, I have little respect for the kind of self-absorption that breeds such behaviour.
We are, of course, well aware of the fact that Harper achieved his majority government with minority support from the electorate, something that has apparently never bothered either that regime or its supporters. However, I suspect we will now be subjected to a barrage of right-wing commentary that will include the claim that because Kathleen Wynne was elected by a minority of eligible voters, she did not really get a mandate from the people. Such hypocrisy, however, is nothing new, but those who are truly distressed by the Ontario results need to look to themselves to blame if, in fact, they are among the 50% who did not vote.
Such is the price of indifference, sloth, and disengagement.
It's axiomatic to say that we get the government we deserve, Lorne. Let's hope we get a better government than we deserve.
ReplyDeleteWell-said, Owen. Let us indeed hope that the gods of democracy smile upon us this time around.
DeleteWhilst I agree with you comments above Lorne I must point out that there remain a number of impediments to voting. In some rural areas I am aware of several seniors plodding across the road or a few houses up the block with their walkers to an open poll location only to be told that THEIR poll was in a village some 10 or 15 miles away. Meanwhile those actually voting at said poll were also from an area some considerable distance from that location, Elections Ontario was notified of this problem last time around but made few changes. The excuse last time was that few “accessible” locations existed in rural areas, so whilst the local poll WAS accessible to those with physical disabilities local citizens with such difficulties were turned away. Its long past time to “make voting easy” by using on-line and / or telephone voting, if it can be done with banking it can be done with voting!
ReplyDeletePoint well-taken, Rural. There is no excuse in a democracy for any barriers to voting. That being said, however, I suspect that no such obstacles confront the vast majority of people who 'choose' not to partake of their democratic rights and responsibilities.
DeleteMy daughter who is in University away from home, voted for the first time. She had to apply online for a special ballot to vote for my home riding (her permanent address is here still), The ballot took well over a week to arrive and she had to fill in her vote and send it back by express mail on Tuesday so that it could arrive before 6 pm yesterday. Either Elections ON was overwhelmed and short handed or they were not very competent. It is very easy to imagine how many young people away from home would be discouraged from voting: likely knowing this, the voter suppression party is doing its best to make it even more difficult to vote for certain groups.
ReplyDeleteGood for your daughter, Anon. At a time when we hear about the large-scale absence of young people going to the polls, she is to be commended for her persistence. Your story, like Rural's, underscores yet another shortcoming in our system. Thanks for the information.
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