The earliest political memory I have is of an add with Stockwell Day talking about the national debt and the share of it belonging to a child. I believe the figure was somewhere around $30,000.00 if my memory serves me well. This was around the time of the federal election in 2000. I watched one of the debates and was hooked. I've been following the political news ever since. Elections always excited me. I was not pleased that I was not allowed to vote though. What particularly annoyed me about that was that I knew more about the issues than both of my parents and actually had an opinion on issues. Neither of them have ever voted in any election. My grandmothers on the other hand never missed a vote. I enjoyed having discussions with them about politics many times. At times they were surprised that I knew as much as they did about issues from 30-50 years ago. I was full of questions for them about their views and how they have changed over the years. My paternal grandmother said she voted for the first time at 18 because her mother told her to and if she voted conservative she better not come home. She then told me that she has never voted conservative in her life as a result. Given that she was 18 at the time that would have been the election that gave Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent a second term. The 2006 election took place a little more than three weeks before my 18th birthday. Once again I was not pleased, both for the fact that I could not vote and the election results themselves. Only a few months later at long last I was able to vote in a local election. I remember that moment very well. In the weeks before the election I read profiles of every candidate for city counsel and decided which one I liked the most. I don't remember the fellows name but I do remember that he did not win. In fact I have never voted for anyone who has won an election. In the 2007 Ontario General Election I was one of the 52.8% of eligible voters who did vote. Along with that election there was a referendum on mix-member proportional representation. I voted against it and now regret that decision. I made that decision based on television and radio adds which was a mistake. A little over a year later I read more about the issue and found that I actually do like the idea compared to our current first-past-the-post system. I then voted in the federal election of October 2008. The majority of my friends did as well. I don't particularly care who a person votes for so long as they do make an informed decision. I wish more would. In both the federal election of 2008 and the provincial election of 2007 I voted for the Green Party. At the time that was the equivalent of spoiling a ballet. However their popularity is rising rapidly. I'm hoping they manage to get at least one seat in the next federal election. Sooner or later I'm sure they will.
Now to the book. I heard an interview of Elizabeth May through Jian Gomeshi's radio talk show Q which intrigued me. I picked up her book "Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy" last week and read it within two days. Its a very slim book and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the current political climate in Canada. In it there's a brief overview of how a parliamentary democracy functions, or rather is supposed to function and then a list of some of the problems currently facing Canadian democracy.
One of the main points is low voter turnout. This trend has been going on for years now. As a minor it annoyed me considerably. Here I was with an opinion I wanted to express but couldn't meanwhile people who could were apathetic. In the last federal election only 59.1% of eligible voters voted. It might have been a bit higher but for the new rules put in place for that election. These new rules required both photo I.D. and proof of address. I had my health card and was covered but was not aware of the requirements. Apparently I was not alone as many were turned away for having one but not the other. At the time I did not know the rules were new, apparently they were put in place shortly before the election by the Harper Conservatives. The remaining issues are apathy and disillusionment. Most people I have spoken to who don't vote either believe that their vote wont make a difference or that nothing good will come regardless of who wins. I disagree with both-for the most part. Had Stephane Dion's Liberals won in October of '08 I doubt he would have tried to pull the financial plug on opposition parties or blatantly ignored Kyoto. Political attack adds no doubt add to this image that all politicians are up to no good. I've always hated attack adds regardless of which party used them. I'd prefer that adds promote their own platform rather than attack their opponents. I've read many articles on this subject and watched debates about it and apparently attack adds do work but not the way they are intended to. According to the information I've come across and May's book attack adds generally convince voters not to vote at all. What annoys me more is their use outside of an election cycle. I don't think I ever saw one used outside of an election cycle until around the time of the sponsorship "scandal". Then only weeks after Dion won the liberal leadership race the "Not a Leader" adds came out. Their most recent use outside of an election cycle where the recycled "Michael Ignatieff: Just Visiting" adds. Notice how they stopped airing when Ignatieff stopped trying to bring down the government.
The attack adds are a microcosm of the way politicians act with each other. Watching question period on CPAC brings back memories of kindergarten. It was not so long ago that MP's respected each other enough to stay relatively quiet while one of them spoke. Technically that is the way things are supposed to work. In the past MP's have been silenced for months by the Speaker for heckling. In lieu of co-operating with each other it would be nice if our elected representatives would at least respect each other. Small clips of these acts are shown on the news fairly often and no doubt contribute to voter disillusionment. Perhaps a single vote will not make much of a difference but if another 10% of eligible voters voted it would.
I'm sure everyone remembers last December when the Harper Government nearly fell. That was without a doubt the most exciting week I have ever seen in Canadian politics. It seemed to come out of the blue, was controversial and the most exciting aspect was the prospect of a coalition government between the Liberals and NDP. I had many debates around this time with people I knew about the situation. Many thought that this coalition government was anti-democratic as Harper was trying to play it. It's not. I knew it was possible but didn't think it would happen. I actually worried that Harper was going to try and form a coalition rather than take down the Martin Government. Apparently he did consider it an option at the time but didn't do it. One of several signs of Harper's hypocrisy.
"Losing Confidence" made me confident that my decision to vote Green was the right one. The main issue I care about is the environment. At 21 I can potentially live long enough to see an environmental catastrophe brought on by global warming. I would rather not. Until another party takes the environment seriously they will not get my vote, and I know I am not alone in this. The main issue among the youth is the environment. This book has shown me that the Green Party stands for far more than just environmental issues. I have no illusions. I know they will not form a government anytime soon. But one does not have to form a government to influence policy. Jack Layton has shown that many times over the past four years.
I could go on and on but I shall not. Instead I shall once again recommend that you read "Losing Confidence".
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