So another provincial election has come and gone. From my perspective, it was a rather dull affair, but I guess you could say that about most elections in Canada. Anyhow, for those of you who were paying attention to the results that poured in on June 12th, you know that the Ontario Liberal Party, to the surprise of many, managed to earn a majority mandate that will prolong what has already been over a decade in power for them. Most of the pollsters and many experts did not believe that this could happen and instead predicted a minority government of some sort. Personally, I thought that there was a chance the Grits could snag a majority and it looks like I was right.
Better the Devil You Know
I certainly have no love for the Ontario Liberals. In fact, I took every opportunity I could to bash them on my Facebook page for their record of scandals, fiscal mismanagement and nanny statism. Nevertheless, I didn't like any of the alternatives either. Whereas I would normally vote Conservative in a provincial or federal election, I felt I couldn't do that this time because of what the Tories planned to do in regards to education, like cutting the 30% tuition rebate for post-secondary students, or increasing class sizes in Ontario's schools. I do work in the field of education after all. And I obviously wouldn't vote NDP, seeing as how the Grits stole most of their bad policies from them anyway, not to mention the fact that the Dippers kept Premier Kathleen Wynne and her cronies in power for so long. I ended up declining my ballot. In other words, I voted "none of the above".
I believe that like myself, other Ontarians had no love for the Liberals, but found the alternatives to be even worse. Tory leader, Tim Hudak,
ran on a campaign of austerity to fix Ontario's economy and get the
province's soaring debt and deficit under control. His platform was
very similar to that of former Ontario Premier Mike Harris, lacking in
compassion and written from a strictly dollars and cents perspective.
Wynne's Liberals knew this, so they made sure that the comparison
between Hudak and Harris stuck. And stick it did. Many Ontario voters
had no desire to the return to the slash and burn days of the former
Tory premier, so they could not bring themselves to vote for Hudak. The other alternative, Andrea Horwath's New Democrats, were a long shot to win this election, although I did think they still had a slim chance. The main problem for them was that the Grits stole their thunder by governing with the same radical, leftist ideology that normally characterizes the NDP. Premier Wynne and the Liberals decided to stick to that ideology during the campaign, leaving the New Democrats to try and find another way to distinguish themselves from the Grits. I'm not too surprised that the Liberals ripped off the NDP's ideology and policies. After all, the Grits are notorious plagiarists, routinely latching on to the ideas of other parties and passing them off as their own (think Tommy Douglas' pitch for universal health care). Horwath responded to this predicament by trying to move her party further to the right - a move for which she was lambasted by many in her party. Predictably, this bout of disunity amongst New Democrats made its rounds in the media and negatively impacted the party's prospects in the elections. Moreover, Premier Wynne and the Liberals managed to convince voters that by voting NDP, they would be giving the election to Hudak's Tories. Ah yes, the old strategic voting scare tactic, which we see in many elections and which we will continue to see unless we get rid of our ridiculous electoral system. Anyhow, Ontario voters, angry with the Liberals, but more scared of Hudak and willing to vote strategically to keep him out, decided to go with the devil they knew instead of the one that they didn't.
Poor Choices and Disenchanted Voters
This year's provincial election was yet another example of how pathetic Canadian politics is. It was another election of lousy choices and voters who just wished that our politicians didn't suck so much. The disenchantment of voters in this province is reflected in this past election's voter participation rate. Just over half of Ontario's eligible voters, about 52%, went to cast ballots this time around. And believe it or not, this is actually an improvement, because in the last provincial election, less than half of eligible voters, around 48%, cast ballots. In fact, it's the first time since 1990 that voter participation hasn't gone down. Still, having nearly half of the province's electorate stay at home on election day doesn't bode well for democracy. I believe that everyone should take advantage of our fundamental right to elect our leaders, even if they just show up to decline or spoil their ballot, but I don't blame those who choose not to vote, especially when I look at the idiots they have to choose from. And even if there is someone you want to vote for, that person or party may not have a chance in hell of getting elected if they're not with one of the three big, fat cat parties. I'm speaking, of course, of the Liberals, the Tories and the New Democrats.
As always, I place the blame for lack of voter participation squarely on two factors: Uninspiring politicians and Canada's ridiculous, winner-take-all, first-past-the-post electoral system. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do to alleviate the first factor negatively impacting voter participation. We just have to hope that better, more inspiring leaders will arise in the future. Personally, I'm not holding my breath. The good news, however, is that we can do something about our electoral system. We can change it so that it more accurately reflects the popular will of the electorate.
Making Every Vote Count Will Boost Voter Participation
Think about this for a minute: Premier Wynne's Liberals were re-elected with a majority government with just under 39% of the popular vote. Should one party be able to govern unhindered for up to five years when they did not earn a majority of voter support? I think not. And what about the nearly 5% of voters whose choices will have no representation, like the poor saps who voted for the Green Party? Shouldn't their votes count for something? Unfortunately, they don't. In fact, unless you voted for the winning candidate in your riding, your vote didn't count either.
I don't know about you, but I think a party that governs with a majority in the legislature should have to receive the backing of the majority of the voters. And if they can't do that, then they should not be governing, unless of course they are willing to share power with other parties in a bloc for which the total number of votes they received is more than half of the votes cast. This is a true majority government - a government backed by the majority of voters, not the manufactured majority that Ontario voters just put back into power.
I think it is logical to assume that if electors knew that their votes would count, no matter who they voted for, they would be more inclined to exercise their fundamental democratic right to choose their leaders. But if we want all votes to count, we will have to change our electoral system and adopt a fairer system; one that involves proportional representation or ranked balloting, both of which more accurately reflect the will of the electorate. Unfortunately, however, it is unlikely that any of the three fat cats, whether they're Liberal red, Tory blue or NDP orange, will move to change the way people in Ontario, let alone the rest of Canada, elect their politicians. And why would they when our current system gives these parties the chance to run their own one-party dictatorship for up to five years at a time? If they did change the system, they might have to share power with some of the little guys, like the Green Party, and they certainly don't want to do that when they can keep all the power to themselves.
Let's face it. Unless some really charismatic and principled new leader comes along with the courage and support to change the way we elect our governments, we will keep voting the same way we have since confederation in 1867. Hence, voter participation rates will continue to be low - unless of course we force people to vote.
Mandatory Voting: The Cop-Out Solution
Some folks, like The Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui, believe that voting should be mandatory (see: Canada should make voting mandatory). He does talk about the need for electoral reform, implying that it might boost voter participation. He also says, however, that making voting mandatory is the most "persuasive" solution to low voter turnout. This solution, I believe, is no solution at all, but rather a cop out. It's as if a person or company with a product that doesn't sell decided to try and force people to buy their product, instead of improving that product to make it more attractive to would-be buyers. Actually, there's a more practical analogy I can use, which involves one of our other fundamental rights: free speech. We all know that in a democracy, everyone has the right to say what they want and to speak freely about what they think and feel. However, no democratically-elected government in their right mind would ever try and compel people to say what they think. In other words, while we have the right to free speech, we also have the right to keep our mouths shut and not speak if we don't want to. Hence, I believe that although we have the right to vote, we should also have the right not to.
So contrary to what folks like Haroon Siddiqui might tell you, the only just solution to low voter turnout, short of more inspiring politicians, is not to make voting mandatory; it's to make voting more worthwhile by reforming our electoral system to make every vote count.
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