Monday’s election day.
You may have heard.
The reasons not to vote are long and varied.
Some think all politicians are inherently corrupt and it doesn’t matter who is elected.
Others believe the present first-past-the-post voting system serves causes votes to slip through the cracks and seep meaninglessly into the soil.
And then there are those who simply couldn’t be bothered.
But if you look at this week’s all-candidates forum, maybe those reasons are becoming less relevant.
It was a packed room Wednesday evening, with a wide cross-section of the population listening carefully and engaging in the political conversation.
A lot of those participants were suspicious of the answers being given, and a lot of them were just plain mad, both healthy attitudes to take.
The reasons why Canadians should get out and vote Monday shouldn’t need to be listed again, but here is one you don’t hear of too often: because voting is an act of defiance against the political parties who would rather gain power than participate in democracy.
Depending who you are, these political parties may not want you to vote at all.
For example, you can bet New Democrats are praying for a freak hurricane Monday, to prevent seniors who typically lean to the right from venturing out to the polling stations.
Likewise, Conservatives would just fine with an indefinite continuation of apathy in young people who, when they are engaged, are most likely put their votes on the left side of the spectrum.
The candidates want your support of course, but if you won’t support them, they’d just as soon you stay away all together.
In that way, voting is a rebellion, a way of telling cynical political operatives that they can’t count on our absence to pave their way to power.
Don’t remain absent.
On Monday, stand up and be counted.
