What’s Wrong With Canadian Politics and a Warm Welcome to my First Blog Post!
I am a firm believer that despite everyone’s claims, very few are in fact informed voters. We settle for half truths and in many cases have no concept of what our rights are as voters. It is up to us to make decisions we feel good about and our current political system does not allow for that. Most tend to vote for the best of the worst as opposed to someone they have confidence in whose platforms actually address the realities facing society. Someone who will make good on what they promise us. Someone who will stand up to corporate pressures, and do what’s right, not what the highest bidder wants them to do. Someone you can look in the eye, ask a question, and get a real legitimate answer. Most of all, what we need is someone who is not afraid to make tough, yet necessary decisions. Someone who will be accountable for those decisions. Someone who has some actual experience dealing with the problems they are charged to solve. I mean, seriously, how can someone who grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth actually have a viable solution for poverty and homelessness? They can’t. And this disconnect is what ails society the most. This part of society has no political voice as in order to get a politician’s ear, your checkbook needs to be in your hand. Yet, ironically it is these people that need a strong government and leadership the most.
As a Torontonian I have been witness to 2 garbage strikes, countless TTC strikes and fare hikes, a breakdown of our infrastructure, cars falling into sinkholes on MAJOR streets, and an assortment of other issues where NOBODY has been held accountable or is willing to stand up and take responsibility. We suffered through a garbage strike where our mayor wilted and gave in to the bulk of the demands of an unskilled workforce instead of saying, NO! We won’t be held hostage by you. It cost taxpayers millions of dollars and created a city-wide health issue. If you were going to simply give in, do it at the start and avoid the strike and the countless dollars in overtime pay that it took to clean it up. Where is your backbone? Where is your sense of pride? Where is your sense of right and wrong? I could go on for days, but sadly demanding accountability and encouraging people to take responsibility for their own decisions (voting in these politicians who seem more interested in abusing their expenses and collecting their hefty salaries, rather than following through on their platforms) is easier said than done. I mean, come on, close to 50% of our population didn’t even bother voting, which, crazy me, should tell everyone that the system does not work. More people abstained from voting than voted for the person running our city/province/country, and that is truly embarrassing. Next time, officially refuse your vote so at least it is counted as an official opposition to the weak choices we are given. Question authority in a thought provoking and intelligent manner and demand accountability!
I want to encourage people to stop solely blaming the politicians when it is us, the people who allow them to run roughshod over our country for their own personal gain. Nobody is above scrutiny, and it makes no difference if you are a Liberal, Conservative, Green, NDP etc…if you are not doing your job, you should be held accountable just like the rest of us. The only way for that to happen is to stop listening to CP24, CBC, CNN, and do your homework. The information is there, you just have to actually care enough to read it all, and form your own, informed opinion.
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Tags: canadian politics, government, informed voters, politicians
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December 3rd, 2009 at 5:59 am
Well written article and also, welcome to informed vote. I agree in part with your assertion that it is the voters responsibility to engage themselves in the system but I also believe that our politics in Canada doesn’t lend itself to much interest beyond the political afficianado. I feel that there are multiple reasons for voter apathy, one of which I think is definatly a lack of interest in being informed. I think this comes from an age where those between the ages of 18-30 want their information to be given to them in the easiest format possible. If the information take effort to find or has to be deseminated from numberous facts and figures where logic is required, it seems that most Canadians aren’t interested. Many say that perhaps electoral reform will change this. I’m not so sure. When New Zealand finally changed their electoral system to be more representative, it didn’t actually increase the percentage of voters over previous elections. So should we do what they do in Australia and make voting a legal obligation? I dont know if that’s the right answer either. I do know one thing; once the number of voters dips below 50%, our democracy is no longer legitimate, as our government is being decided in an election where less then half of the voting population took an interest.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:54 am
I too am a new blogger on this site Jason. My motive for joining the contributors to Informedvote was naturally to submit my own thoughts. But, since signing on I’ve actually spent most of my time reading rather than writing. I’ve been impressed by the quality and the content provided by a wide range of authors and I’ve fallen into the habit of cross referencing articles I read in my daily newspaper with corresponding articles on this site. To be sure, you made valid points in your first article but I think you would agree that you are preaching to the converted here. Now; how do we get our fellow citizens involved?
December 4th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I would also like to welcome Jason to informed vote and congratulate him on his article. I agree many voters are not well informed. I think one of the reasons is that today people have busier and more stressful lives, and therefore do not have alot of free time to study the issues. More importantly, I think people are more cynical about politicians today, and they don’t find politics interesting. I have tries to correct this is a small way by focusing more on the positive and interesting aspects of politics, with limited success. How do we get our fellow citizens involved? If more bloggers posted more positive articles there may be some small progress, but this alone would not be enough. Chretien tried unsuccessfully to create a museum centred on politics; if it centred on all aspects of public service, not just politicians, the project might succeed. More TV shows, movies, and stories about politics like “The West Wing” would help. We also have make politics more attractive to candidates (not just in a monetary sense) so that stronger candidates will run.
December 5th, 2009 at 4:18 am
I want to echo something that David pointed out, that being the positive side of politics. When and if you watch the House of Commons you rarely see moments of clarity or moments free of retorical spin. This is because the House of Commons is very politicised. I’d like to point out, however, that committees do tend to bare witness to more progress in terms of discussion and discourse then most House of Commons sittings. If people took some time and watched a Parliamentary Committee they might see just how their politicians work for them. However, if people focus only on the small world of soundbites and video clips, then they will continue to be unaware of the goods works that take place. I think people need to take the responsibility upon themselves to understand WHAT politics is and then discover their way through it.