Editorial: Voting is about people, not just political parties. Keep that in mind as you cast your ballot today.
Sometimes the fates conspire to make voting harder than we’d like. Global events dominating the headlines. A winter election call. A short campaign with few chances to meet candidates. Voter identification cards that don’t arrive. Voting hours that don’t let you cast your ballot before the workday starts. It can be mighty inconvenient.
Not as inconvenient, mind you, as voting in conflict-scarred countries, or regions devastated by natural disaster. Not as inconvenient as lining up at polling stations for eight or 10 hours, as people in many nations do.
So, what say we find the time to support democracy today? What say we take that miserable 44 per cent provincial voter turnout from 2022, toss it into the trash bin of mistakes not to be repeated, and go mark our ballots?
And here’s a further suggestion. While most people have a sense of which party they like, please also think carefully about the individual candidates on your ballot. It is they who will support or oppose — or maybe even improve — policy proposals from leaders. Mark that ballot for someone you think has integrity, intelligence and the spine to stand up for what they believe. It’s not just about the party — unless you want a legislature full of bobbleheads nodding in the background whenever their boss gives a press conference.
How can you find out who’s worthy in your own riding then, even at this late hour? Start here. The Citizen invited candidates from the four main parties in Ottawa ridings to write online articles explaining what they would do for their riding if elected. We heard back from 16 candidates in eight ridings. The Citizen has also published riding profiles and deeper candidate surveys. To see all our election coverage in one place, simply go to our online coverage here.
Read the Citizen articles that are relevant to your riding, then ask yourself: Do the candidates illustrate real knowledge of the community? Do they know its key issues, its success stories, its pain points? Or do they just parrot party slogans? Do they have a track record in your riding? If they’ve already been your MPP, what do they have to show for it? Individuals are the key to any party’s success.
Consider what each candidate in your area has said and done, and whether they are capable of actually keeping their local promises. At a base salary of $116,550, MPP shouldn’t be an entry-level job.
So yes, there’s a bit of inconvenience involved in voting. But not much. And if we vote, we just might elect people who will make a better Ottawa.
