I promise you, dear readers, this is the last time I will be harassing you to get out and vote for who those seeking to represent you in government.
Well, the last time for a few years, anyway.
It’s important.
Last time around, somewhere around 40 per cent of the population didn’t bother, meaning they let 60 per cent of the population decide who governs 100 per cent of the population.
And just over 39 per cent of those who voted cast their ballot for the Conservative Party of Canada.
Now, no matter who you support in this coming election, I’m going to assume you can agree that 39 per cent of 60 per cent of the adult population (approximately 24 per cent of eligible voters), in an ideal world, wouldn’t get to decide who creates and implements the policy that will guide us into the future as a country.
Thankfully, it looks like that will not be the case this election.
Whatever the result ends up being, people will be turning out in droves to have their say this time around – at least if the advance polls are anything to go by.
In the 2011 federal election, according to Elections Canada data, 4,771 people voted in the advance polls in our electoral district. This year saw over 12,000 people turn out.
While there was one more day of advance polling this time around, that’s still a huge increase, especially considering our electoral district’s population decreased by about 10,000 people when the lines were redrawn in 2012.
You have one more weekend, people of Campbell River and area.
You have one more weekend to decide who you want representing you in our nation’s capital.
And there’s absolutely no reason to cast an uninformed vote.
If you want to vote based on who you think will be the best leader of the country, there is plenty of information out there about who Stephen Harper, Elizabeth May, Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau are. They have all released their party platforms and promises. One of them has been in charge of the country for the last decade or so, even, and you should at least know whether you like the state of it and how it’s viewed around the world.
If you don’t know that, well, that information is out there, too.
Worst case scenario: go online and look up “vote compass” or “I side with Canada” and take an easy quiz to see which party your values most align with and vote that way.
If you want to vote based on which local candidate you feel will best represent your region’s interests in Ottawa, that information is out there, as well.
We’ve been running stories for weeks about how the local candidates feel about various issues.
All those stories are online at campbellrivermirror.com under the “2015 FEDERAL ELECTION” tab in the top right corner.
Heck, the entire local All-Candidates Meeting where each of the four local candidates answered more than 20 questions about various issues of public concern is available online in both audio and video form.
Anyway, that’s enough badgering. See you at the polling station on Monday.
I’ll be there helping shape the future of our country.
I hope you will be, too.