Canada’s democracy is truly unique
I am a recruitment supervisor at the Ottawa Centre district of Elections Canada and I am starting to get a really good feeling about the state of democracy in Canada: We are safe, we are defiant and we are thriving in our democracy.
Every day I and the rest of our recruitment team talk to hundreds of people who come from Asia and Africa, from India and Syria, from Kenya and Cameroon, from Brazil and France. We talk to Amans and Julies, we talk to Alains and Megans, and we listen to, and agree with, the “commitment to community” and “I love Canada” that our poll workers express as some of their reasons to put in long days for elections.
As in every election, including this one, we see that Canada has a unique culture, unique skillset, unique acceptance, unique democracy. Every day as we pick up the phone to offer a position to another citizen, we feel the magic of democracy and we embrace the greatness of Canada.
So please go out and vote. You can vote during the four days of advance polling, you can vote at Elections Canada district offices, you can vote on election day. Please vote. And be kind and patient with your poll workers.
Rakesh Misra, Ottawa
Here’s why votes are never wasted
In Canada, we are blessed and cursed with a multiplicity of political voices. We are blessed to have so many choices, any of which may fit one’s personal priorities. At the same time, we are cursed, because having so many parties makes it largely impossible for any of them to garner a majority of votes. Indeed, a party can form a majority government with less than 40 per cent of the popular vote. And that’s 40 per cent of those who do turn up to vote.
Premier Doug Ford won a resounding majority in the recent provincial election with some 43 per cent of a 45 per-cent voter turnout. That’s roughly 18 per cent of all eligible voters. But what exactly did the 55 per cent of those not voting want? Were they aligned with his platform, or not? Are any public policy decisions he makes a gamble? We don’t know, and neither does he.
These days, we mistakenly think democracy is about “winning.” It’s not. It’s about knowing. Those elected need to know, not guess, what the citizenry does and doesn’t want. And in a nation this big, those wants can be diverse. That means those whom voters task with making important decsisions need to know with greater certainty how well their thinking reflects the thinking of the nation.
So even if you think your preferred candidate or party doesn’t stand a chance of being elected, vote. If you don’t like any of the choices presented to you, you can say so by spoiling your ballot. It’s not a wasted vote. It’s information for decision-makers. Whatever you feel “the government” needs to know comes in the form of your ballot. We used to have voter turnouts of 75 per cent and higher. Low 60s is more common of late.
To my mind, we need voter reform more than electoral reform. Vote.
Mark Hammer, Ottawa
Excluding Greens from the debate was wrongheaded
Re: Green Party booted from leaders’ debates due to lack of candidates, April 16.
The Leaders’ Debate Commission decided to exclude the Green Party from the debates with hours to go before the first one. When I emailed to protest, the reply said, “Please be aware that our office receives a large volume of emails every day and that we try our best to respond in a timely manner.”
With the race of major parties to the centre and the collapse of carbon pricing, we need to hear a voice for the environment. Green party coleaader Jonathan Pedneault is articulate in both French and English and needs to be heard. His relative youth may inspire many younger voters to participate. The late decision by the debate commission clearly blocks democratic discussion.
Michael Wiggin, Ottawa
Commission showed a double standard toward the Greens
I am apalled by the decision to remove the leader of the Green party from the televised leaders’ debates. I am no Green party supporter, but any party that can field 100 candidates or more for the House of Commons (the Green party has over 200 candidates) should be represented on these debates. It prompts the question of why the Bloc Québécois, with only 78 candidates, is allowed to participate.
As the French say: deux poids, deux mesures.
Alex Cullen Ottawa
Winning party will play the same old card
Get ready to hear these words: “We’ve looked at the books and they are worse than we thought.”
It doesn’t matter who wins the election, those words are coming to counter all the promises both sides have made. They are like a get-out-of-jail-free card for all those promises.
Our deficit is so out-of-control that whichever party wins, it’ll need to make cuts. Personally I believe that the Conservatives are the best party to make these cuts responsibly but it doesn’t matter which party wins, it’ll have to be done.
D.J. Phillips, Gloucester
Why Poilievre isn’t the right man now
Re: Denley, Pierre Poilievre is the right man in the wrong city, April 15.
Oh, Randall Denley. You can’t convince people to like or respect someone they have come to know over the years. Pierre Poilievre’s public persona is not likeable no matter what he is like in private.
Years ago, the Liberal “rat pack,” which included John Nunziata and Sheila Copps, was very effective in opposition and got under the skin of the Conservatives. Their personalities were perfect for that job, but nobody would have chosen them to be prime minister. Fast-forward to 2015 and Tom Mulcair: he was a masterful opposition leader but the public chose the mellower, untested Justin Trudeau because they were sick of sour Stephen Harper and they didn’t want the attack dog Mulcair.
Poilievre almost had a chance when Trudeau was still leader even though I believe many would have stayed home if we had had that election. But that moment has passed and he is not the man for this crucial time.
Cathy Haley, Ottawa
Why Carney’s not right for Nepean
Re: Denley, Nepean riding a bad fit for outsider Carney, April 8.
The bigger issue is the affront to democracy perpetrated by the Liberal Party of Canada.
A basic tenet of democracy is that the representative of the people be from the people, by the people and of the people. When the Liberal Party of Canada gets involved, removing the people’s choice and then inserting its own candidate, it is corruption and more.
The good people of Nepean must be awfully upset with the back-room boys and girls who run the Liberal party telling them who their candidate will be. Even given that the candidate in question is supposedly the saviour of Canada.
Why did Mark Carney not run in Rockliffe, where he lives? He could have put his name forward and worked to convince the people there of his legitimacy as a candidate.
The shenanigans of the Liberal party are
but one more example of what is wrong with elections in Canada and why ever more Canadians
are simply not bothering to vote.
Steve Renolds, Ottawa
Political past does not define the future
Re: Letter, Bad Carney just steals from Tories, April 15.
While political parties do have histories, these do not define the future, nor what a qualified, committed, serious candidate can accomplish or aim for. Ideas for bettering Canada are common property: shared, not stolen.
Before casting your vote in this critical election, please look objectively at the qualifications of each candidate as they are … not as their predecessors were.
Mira Culham, Ottawa
ByWard Market needs a Speaker’s Corner
Re: Letters, Teens offer advice for those running the ByWard Market, April 14.
Regarding the many suggestions offerd to make the valuable space in the ByWard Market more attractive: Add green spaces and fountains, no cars, less concrete, but more important: a Speakers’ Corner, where politics etc. can be debated.
Carole MacFarlane, Ottawa
Vietnamese dish a great addition
Re: Hum, Tasty bites that go easy on your wallet, April 12.
It’s interesting but not surprising to see that banh mi made Peter Hum’s list of affordable restaurant meals. I just came back from Vietnam where banh mi is a popular street food. Originating in the north of Vietnam, banh mi’s popularity has spread throughout Vietnam and has even gained a popular foothold abroad. I had my first authentic Vietnamese banh mi in Hanoi, where I ordered a “combo” with everything in it.
Eating this bánh mì is like biting into a delicious contradiction: the crackle of the warm, airy baguette gives way to a rich, savory mix of meats and silky pâté, followed by a refreshing crunch from pickled vegetables. The flavour hits in waves: the umami depth of the fillings, the bright tang of pickles, the herbal lift from fresh cilantro, and heat from a strong chili sauce, all balanced by a hint of sweetness. It’s vibrant, messy, and incredibly satisfying: a perfect fusion of Vietnamese and French influences that feels both exotic and comfortingly familiar.
My banh mi cost me 45,000 VND (about $3.50 Cdn). It appears, all things being equal, banh mi in Hanoi is a better deal than in Ottawa.
Dono Bandoro, Ottawa
Just amalgamate the four school boards
Re: Public school inequality is made worse by private funding, April 17.
How about if this reorganization of schools starts with amalgamating all four school boards into one? If we were starting over ,there is no way anyone would suggest four school boards makes any sense.
From any efficiency standpoint, a single school board is the only sensible solution. With all schools under one board there would be many more options for allocating students.
Of course, the combination of cowardly politicians, special interest groups and apathetic voters would doom this from the start. Perhaps the coming recession will finally jolt people into the realization of how much money is wasted running four school boards.
Keith Dawson, Ottawa
It’s time to get serious about high-speed rail
High-speed rail is an environmental imperative, especially if it is (hopefully) electric.
A high-speed rail link between Ottawa and Toronto would take thousands of jet and turbo prop airplanes and their highly polluting contrails out of the air. As well, the climate impact of distilling so much jet fuel would be greatly reduced.
High-speed rail would greatly reduce the stress-inducing noise pollution for those, like we here in Orléans, on flight paths and approaches to city airports.
Finally it is not just how jet and turbo prop planes pollute, but where they pollute. Released in the mid- and upper atomosphere, jet and turbo prop pollution lingers longer and travels farther than ground-produced carbons and pollutants.
It’s time to get serious about high-speed, electric rail.
Thomas Brawn, Orléans
Our tiff with the U.S. isn’t that unique
Everyone is acting like the tiff with the Americans is unique and
new. We Canadians have supposedly been good neighbours and
partners for a long time, and this behaviour from the current U.S. president is out of the blue and unacceptable. We are truly the victims here, people say. Really?
What about John A. Macdonald’s anti-American “National Policy” that slowed Canadian growth and economic development just to give the proverbial middle finger to our southern neighbours?
What about the Liberals’ ridiculous “Border” attack ad in the 1980s, which claimed that merely increasing trade with America would be akin to an invasion of our national sovereignty? I could go on.
“Elbows up” is just Boomer nonsense: anti-American silliness that takes on a new form every generation.
Trading relationships are how countries get and stay rich. We need to
double down on our relationship with the Americans, for both our
economic prosperity and national security. That will continue to be
true regardless of which administration is in charge there.
If some political candidates are not mature or intelligent enough to understand that, then they must step aside.
David Szymanski, Ottawa
