Should Canada have mandatory voting rules?
Wed, September 24 2008
A pretty tragic one.
A story of apathy.
It is a tale of an unwanted election hoisted on Canadians by a government desperate to gain enough MPs to rule with a majority.
After two weeks of lackluster campaigning, an Ipsos Reid poll for Canwest News Service and Global National unequivocally states that Canadians are not paying much attention to the election.
Eight in 10 Canadians said they are not paying more attention to this election than those in the past.
The majority, about 65 per cent, say they’re giving the election about the same amount of attention as others, which means their voter apathy has not changed.
And 14 per cent say they’re paying even less attention than in previous elections.
“Right now it’s little bit of same-old, same-old,” said the pollster.
“Three elections over four years, people are a bit electioned out.”
You think this is bad.
Try three elections in the next little while in B.C.
Instead of global warming, fuel prices and crime, voter turnout has become the biggest issue in this federal election.
University of Toronto political science professor Lawrence Le Duc believes the slow bleed will continue according to a published interview.
“If you could hold everything else constant and say there’s nothing else that’s changed, then you’d expect to see a decline of a per cent or two,” he said.
So what’s the matter with us?
Why are we not interested in who governs us?
Maybe that is because this election is nothing but a Harper referendum.
There is no neck-and-neck, no-holds-barred race which can increase turnout, unlike the U.S. competition.
In B.C., the Liberals trail so much that Stephane Dion has had to send his dynamic wife to woo voters.
The NDP can’t get its candidates straight, while the emerging Green Party can’t even find enough people to field as candidates.
Right now complacency rules, not only among the electorate but with those vying for office.
Canada’s election so far seems headed for the status quo.
The parties are doing nothing to boost turnout.
So maybe the time has come for mandatory voting legislation, as is the case in Australia.
Forced engagement will likely dissipate the “Oh, what could we do?” mentality.
We would like to hear your views on this.
Send us your thoughts on mandatory voting legislation and we’ll pass it on to your MPS.
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