Monday, January 23, 2006

Election Day

There's an election today in my country. You've probably noticed that I haven't talked about it much (or at all) in this space. It's not that I don't care about the election; in fact, Chris and I have done a lot of in-depth research regarding this various parties and our local candidates. We listened to the debates (okay, I listened to the final English debate; Chris listened to everything, including the translations of the French ones); we've bought newspapers. Mostly, we've observed. (We've also decided how we're going to vote, which I'm not going to make public here, but for once I actually opened my mind and considered all parties and platforms before making a decision.)

Watching the whole electoral process, I have to say that all the major parties disappointed me a little. All I heard was electioneering and rhetoric, empty promises, mindlessly repeated party lines and scare-mongering.

But get out there and vote (not that I really need to tell you to do that). And I'll echo Dixie in saying that you should think before you vote. Look at the whole platforms and consider what they're saying; vote however you feel inclined, and not how you feel pressured to vote. (I've become particularly resistant to voting pressure tactics in the past few years.)

And I'll be here, watching the results with interest. It should be fun. (And I really miss having TV, and watching the election results with Meg. Those were some good times. Of course, she'll be busy working at the election this year, anyway.)

5 comments:

Leslie M-B said...

People in your country vote? And when they do, they think before doing so? What's that like? Do tell!

Seriously, it's been fun hearing a bit of news about Our Great Northern Neighbor, even if it's mostly from The Daily Show. Usually, we hear nothing. No wonder so many Americans can't find Canada on a map. . .

Meg Persson said...

Yeah, almost 65% of people voted today. At the polling station I ran, we had 64.5% show up.

Anonymous said...

Man, I haven't been able to watch the daily show in so long. I bet they've been hilarious about our election.

arimich said...

I missed sitting at home and watching everything come up on the TV screen. I was checking election results during class today, and then bringing all the other Canadian teachers up to speed. Hooray for CBC news online!

Queen of West Procrastination said...

The funny thing is that everyone was talking about how voter turn-out could've been lower than last time's low of 60%, because it was the middle of winter and there's been a general downward pattern since 1993. But it was a big election for us, and turn-out went up!

I can't fathom hoping for 40% turn-out. Of course, we don't elect our judges, dog-catchers...