[NEWS] New West woman learns the value of voting

Barbara Hilstad’s life experiences have helped shape her views on the importance of voting.

When civic elections roll around, Hilstad is often seen at all-candidates meetings jotting down notes about candidates’ views on issues. With people around the world willing to give their lives for the opportunity to vote, voting is something Hilstad takes seriously.

“I have lived, studied and worked in many countries in Latin America and I too realize the value of the vote,” she wrote in an email to The Record. “Also, when there are so many candidates, how can a citizen of New Westminster ever remember who stands for what?”

While living in Ecuador in the late 1960s, Hilstad saw the same person elected president become a dictator – all within three years. During a study program in Cuba in 1989, Hilstad witnessed a “unique brand of social democracy” – where people didn’t get to vote for their leader, but were able to elect representatives on a state and local level, and had a system of recall they could use if people didn’t keep their promises.

There were roaming death squads in Guatemala in the 1990s, when Hilstad was teaching in that country. Although there were elections in Guatemala, she said they didn’t make the country a safe place today.

When it comes to senior levels of government, Hilstad is troubled by some of the changes she’s seen through the years.

“I think democracy is moving into a whole new dimension, run by corporations,” she said. “I am not sure that we even have a democracy anymore. The question of voting comes up big in my mind again.”

On a local level, Hilstad believes it’s important to vote in municipal elections. She strongly supports change, as she thinks people become entrenched and comfortable in their positions if they’re in office for a long time.

“The basic reason I vote is I think we ought to change our government regularly,” she said. “I like countries that have laws, like Mexico, where the president can only be in for six years. In the States, they can only be in for eight years. Here, you can be in forever. I think it’s much healthier if you have organized, regular changes.”

During election campaigns, Hilstad reads and listens to what candidates have to say – information that helps shape the choices she makes on election day.

“I want to hear what our next leaders have to say about themselves, how they get along with others or if they are stuck on a personal issue,” she told The Record. “Do they look at New Westminster as being as part of a much larger whole? Or are they myopic, seeing only their own backyard? When I was growing up in Kitsilano, New Westminster was at the end of the world. Today, we are just one little step in getting from wherever to somewhere. We live in a global world – even here.”