Angus Reid, a well-respected pollster and sociologist, when asked this week what he thought the top election issue in B.C. was said ‘trust.’
Who do you trust, who can you trust, what promises made will be kept and why do candidates deserve your trust? All good questions, and all for the most part involve very personal judgments.
As a media source we provide as much news, candidate questions and answers, and opinion pieces that we can work on and fit in during a pretty short campaign. It’s never as much as we’d like to publish or put on our website, but we think it offers readers a solid local starting point.
But voters need to educate themselves, question their assumptions and engage in the electoral process to truly be part of what is a very precious democratic process.
We don’t endorse candidates as other newspapers do or have done. We think it’s a bit arrogant to assume we either know what’s best for you, or have some special superior knowledge that gives us that right.
On the subject of trust, we also don’t advise you on who we may think is the most trustworthy candidate. We simply trust in our readers to try to make sense of it all and vote with their hearts and minds.
What one voter may believe is a key issue may be what another voter doesn’t give a hoot about. Some people vote the party, others vote the candidate. Some, unfortunately, don’t even bother to vote. To those folks we say, as we always do, don’t whine and complain later if you can’t be bothered to get out once every four years and mark a ballot.
This is an important election. They all are. Whatever the pollsters may try to tell you, the results are not a foregone conclusion.
By all accounts, this election could go almost any way in New Westminster’s two ridings. As one candidate told the Record, “it’s a crap shoot.” We agree.
This may be one of those elections where a very small number of votes will determine the winner – or losers. Your vote counts.
So whether you are determining who to vote for by their trustworthiness or what party’s policy is dear to you, exercise your democratic right. And, at the very least, trust your own thinking.
At least then you only have yourself to blame if you’ve picked the wrong candidate.
