Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

THE SIDEWINDER - Voter Apathy = You are a big part of the problem

Edmund Burke, the eighteenth-century Irish philosopher, once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

 

I agree.

 

British Columbia Premier John Horgan could call a provincial election almost any time soon and, if past records are any indication, the big winner will probably be voter apathy where so-called 'good men' will sit idly by, letting others cast their ballots and make important decisions for them.

 

Probably more than forty per cent of the eligible voters in provincial ridings will not participate by casting a ballot. Are these good people? I think not because if they were really good people, they would vote.

 

Past provincial elections have drawn a pathetic turnout of just over fifty per cent province wide, a shameful turnout considering the number of important issues that were facing the voters.

 

Well, here we are a few years later and there is a very strong potential for a repeat performance. I cannot explain the magnitude of voter indifference but I know it exists.

 

Politicians and election officials have been scratching their heads for decades trying to lure eligible voters to the polls in greater numbers but their collected efforts have failed to make much of a difference with thousands of eligible voters who just don't care enough.

 

I can't recall any election, federal, provincial or municipal, where the number of eligible voters who failed to show up at the polls couldn't have drastically altered the final results if they had set aside their remote controls and golf clubs or whatever else long enough to cast their ballots.

 

The last provincial election in which I voted was 2017. The turnout in both Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge-Mission was significantly better than the provincial average of just over fifty two percent but both fell just short of sixty per cent, leaving about 16,000 indifferent voters not casting their votes in each riding.

 

Do you think the sixteen thousand voters in Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows who, for whatever reason, failed to vote could have made a difference? The results for Maple Ridge-Mission were similar. 

 

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that even a relatively small share of the 16,000 voters who didn't participate could have made a big difference.

 

Just like every other election, voters will be faced with some tough decisions in the next provincial election.

 

COVID-19, unemployment, public spending, health, environment, education, housing and transportation, are just a few of the major issues but there is an even more important reason for people to exercise their democratic right to vote and that is strengthening our democracy.

 

If you're one of the cynics who think their vote won't make a difference; or, if you think that 'they're all alike' and won't vote for any of them, you are a big part of the problem.

 

There are very few legitimate excuses for failing to exercise your right to vote. For the few minutes it will take, British Columbia desperately needs you to shed yourself of that voter apathy and get involved by casting your ballot.

 

Of course, there is another old saying, “If you didn't vote, you have no right to bitch about the results.”

 

 

SANDY Macdougall ... is a retired newspaper reporter. He was elected for three consecutive terms to Maple Ridge municipal council in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and also ran for the Progressive Conservatives in Kim Campbell's ill-fated federal election campaign. He now makes his home in the BC interior community of Kelowna.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GORDON F. D. WILSON: When The Trick Masquerades as The Treat

Thirty-seven years ago, Halloween 1987, I became the leader of the BC Liberal Party.   British Columbia was badly polarized. Social Credit held one side and the NDP the other. It had been twelve years, 1975, since Liberal MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer, and Alan Williams had walked away from their party to join Social Credit, one year after the lone Progressive Conservative MLA Hugh Curtis had abandoned his party to sit with Bill Bennett, the son and heir apparent to long-serving BC Premier, WAC Bennett.   An unwritten agreement by the biggest Canadian political shareholders, the federal Liberals and Conservatives, decided that if British Columbia was to remain a lucrative franchise from a revenue perspective, they couldn’t risk splitting the electoral vote and electing the real enemy, the NDP, so no resources would be used to finance either a Liberal or Conservative party provincially.   “There are two sides to every street,” I was told by a very prominent Canadian businessman who cont

FORSETH: As a BC Conservative member, and campaign worker, I will again state that the fact these errors were found -- AND brought to light BY Elections BC -- shows the system IS working

Sadly, two and a half weeks after the BC provincial election campaign, those who want to undermine our political process are still at.  PLUS, we also have one who doesn’t even live in our country, never mind our province. I speak of the buffoon running for President of the United States, who has poisoned the well when it comes to faith in the electoral process. Just today alone, comments such as the following, were being made of posts that I shared online: ... all the votes they keep finding has just favoured NDP on in all critical ridings and soon they will flip another riding in favour of NDP, Come on. ... Elections BC has ridiculed British Columbians, and I no longer have confidence or trust in their process and competence regarding the results Then there are others online, with comments like these – who are claiming fraud in the October 19th election: ... Who is the oversight for Elections BC? They should be investigated for election fraud! ... Fraudulent election ... should be red

Rob Shaw: Eby should be worried why mudslinging missed the mark in B.C. election

  Why did a BC NDP election campaign overwhelmingly focused on attacking the character of the BC Conservatives fail to prevent a blue wave that came within 27 votes of toppling the governing party? Partly because voters didn’t much care for, or about, all the New Democrat mudslinging. They were just hopping mad about some very specific issues ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Labels

Show more