If we start pounding this message home now, will it have sunk in by Oct. 19?
VOTE.
Just a warning: we plan to keep sending this message, over and over again, for the next two-and-a-half months.
Yes, the writ has dropped for the federal election, and candidates are all lined up and ready to go in Burnaby’s three ridings.
As of press time, all but one of the candidates for the four major parties had been named, and New Westminster-Burnaby’s Greens were expected to name the sole remaining candidate by the end of the week.
Now, as the candidates get ready to start their campaigns in earnest, the onus is on all of the rest of us – that is, the voters – to make sure those campaigns matter.
Get involved. Read up on the issues that matter to you and find out where your local candidates stand. Call their offices to ask them questions. Take their campaign literature, read it, and follow up on any issues and ideas that interest or concern you.
Attend public meetings and events where you can find out more about the people running and where they stand on the issues that matter to you.
Follow the news, stay on top of the issues and be prepared to hold candidates accountable for the promises they make as individuals and on behalf of their parties.
Then, come Oct. 19, do the one thing that every single citizen of voting age should be doing: Get to the polls and vote.
We’re sick of the excuses we hear every time there’s an election.
Whether it’s “my vote won’t matter anyway” or “politicians are all alike, who cares which one takes office,” there’s no excuse to abrogate your responsibility as a citizen of this country.
With all the rights and privileges that come with living in a democratic nation comes the responsibility to mark your X and help select the next government.
To be sure, there’s some argument to be made that the democratic system we’re currently working with is broken.
Let’s face it, it’s rare for the makeup of Parliament after an election to come anywhere near reflecting the actual percentages of the popular vote.
And there’s no doubt that when it comes to winning elections, money still talks pretty damn loudly – too loudly, perhaps, for the comfort of most of us.
But if those are among your excuses for staying home, we’ve got a better idea: Find out where parties stand on issues of electoral reform, and vote for the person you think is most likely to make change happen.
We don’t care who you vote for. We only care that you vote.
