If Monday’s (April 20) election forum at Banff Park Lodge was any indication, voters are again showing that their Give-A-Crap metre is barely registering.
That’s scary, not to mention very disappointing.
Here in the Outlook newsroom, there is always interest in politics, whether it be at the municipal, provincial or federal level. We wouldn’t assume that the general populace shares our level of interest … but 85 people at a provincial election forum?
Was everybody at home watching the NHL playoffs? Sitting on patios nursing a cold one? Pondering the arrival of spring and wondering when bears will appear (they already have)? Booking appointments to have winter tires exchanged for summer skins?
Or do local voters actually not care who represents them in the legislature? Is everyone assuming the status quo will prevail, so there’s no need to lend an ear to what our NDP, Wildrose and PC candidates have to say?
The next local election forum will take place Monday (April 27) at Silvertip in Canmore, from 5-7 p.m. We hope a greater turnout will be obvious.
If the 85 people who attended the forum could be forecast Alberta-wide, it’s likely a new low will be set when it comes to participation in our democratic process.
In the last election, just 54 per cent of voters decided which party will run our province. Before that, in 2008, a staggeringly pathetic 40 per cent chose our government.
Is it possible that this time around less than half of eligible voters will decide who runs things? We think it’s likely.
Late in the forum proceedings, a man of about 30-ish, we’d guess, took the mic to pose a question and quipped that he appeared younger than most of those in attendance.
While there was a general murmur of laughter at his remark, he was simply pointing out the obvious – and the embarrassing. Do young people in the Bow Valley also not care who’s in control of their tax dollars, the direction the province is taking, and their future?
It’s not like recent times haven’t been chock full of political drama with floor crossings, tax increases, cutbacks, early election calls, leaders calling it quits in embarrassment, former leaders not getting a re-election nod, budgets based on collapsing oil prices causing us all to rely on a thinner wallet, etc.
Do none of these issues strike a chord with the under-30s, say? In some regions, youth have marched in the streets in regard to cuts in education funding, speak out against tax money flowing to dirty energy, against a lack of funding or commitment to affordable housing initiatives.
Could it be that around here, everyone’s mind is made up and all that’s left is a visit to a voting booth on May 5? Do people feel they’re getting all the information they need via the Internet, news broadcasts and stories in local newspapers? We doubt it, but we’ll see.
There’s a lot to be said for attending a public forum to see how, live and in person, election candidates comport themselves in public, whether they prefer an attack to a defence, whether they seem sure of themselves and their party’s platform, if they seem honest or evasive, or believable.
On May 5, are you going to let roughly half the population choose your government, or get out there and have your say? Keep in mind, in many regions of this planet, citizens have no opportunity to decide on who represents them.
Many people would and have, literally, died for the opportunity.
