Voters Don’t Get A Passing Grade

Matthew Ross is the founder of ContentServicing.com, a content and communications provider. You can view/join its Facebook group. He is also the host of Game Points on THE TEAM 990AM in Montreal, Canada.

When I was in school, 60 percent was a passing grade. When my dad was in school, 50 percent was a passing grade. Some schools peg 65 percent as their passing or failing point. Whatever your definition of sink or swim, democracy in Canada lost big time with the recent federal election. Unbelievably, only 59 percent of eligible voters turned out to support their candidates at the polls. It’s an apalling number when you consider that the United States and Brittain were safely over the 60 percent mark in their last elections.

So what does this say about the campaign that politicians ran in Canada? Well, it says they didn’t inspire, they didn’t identify with voters and they didn’t stir up any kind of passion one way or another during the entire campaign.

Personally, I think it was a disgusting turnout. We should be embarassed as a nation to turn out less than 60 percent at the polls.  What’s next, 55 percent? How about 50%? Maybe it will be 45 percent? At that point, we may as well be overthrown by a military madman and become a dictatorship (Gilles Duceppe would make an awesome hated dictator).

Why bother having a democracy if we don’t re-affirm it each election time? The old adage of people dying for the right to vote in various parts of the world should never grow old. We all lost face with these results and we should be ashamed of ourselves. What was the problem, was it too much time for us to spend at the polling station? It took me only 25 minutes round-trip, how much more could it have taken at the worst-run polling station.

If you didn’t vote, then you should take a good long look in the mirror and wonder what you are doing living in Canada. You did your country a grave disservice by not voting and you disrespected all of the freedoms and liberties that our troops fight to protect and promote all around the world. By abstaining during this past election, you may think you were proving a point or harmlessly displaying indifference, but you did more than that. You tarnished the image of Canada as a free state populated by people with intelligence, a sense of right and above all else; pride in their country. Our pride swagger is a little less evident today.

What does it say about a country when the province (Quebec) that wants out the most turns out the best voter percentage? Judging by the amount of Bloc MPs going to Ottawa, it says all is not right with the process.

Exactly what does Canada need to get back on track? Well, seeing as we will probably have another election in two year’s time, it says we need some new leadership and it says we need politicians to listen to what the people want. But just because our leaders failed us, doesn’t mean we are all off the hook. It also means we need to show up in droves and put this pathetic turnout behind us if we want to restore the image of Canada as a democratic nation that believes in what it stands for.

You may think I am being a little over-dramatic, but I don’t. We are on the brink of economic destruction and we get a record-low turnout? You have got to be kidding me. I understand we need our leaders to be more charismatic and unifying. But, we also have to rely on ourselves as well. The election down south may be intriguing for most of us, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore what is going on in our own backyard. Let’s accept our reprimand for a low turnout like good men and women and right the wrong next time around.  For the sake of Canadian democracy, we must!

Matthew Ross is the founder of ContentServicing.com, a content and communications provider. You can view/join its Facebook group. He is also the host of Game Points on THE TEAM 990AM in Montreal, Canada.