Why I hate elections


Vote or abstain?




The other day while taking out the trash I saw that someone had put an election sign into the ground at the back of the house. I'm on a corner lot so it was in plain view to anyone walking by or driving down the street. I hadn't noticed it before because Luc laid out a line of brush and branches across the side lawn to stop the snowmobilers from crushing our newly planted trees.

It was a sign calling for the re-election of Jeff Watson, our local member of parliament. Although I've just moved into his constituency, I know of Jeff because he's an autoworker from the minivan plant and he worked on an assembly line not far from mine. A lot of my friends out here in the county voted for him in the last election and intend to this time as well. The election takes place tomorrow.

Now as much as I like the idea of blue collar workers joining all the lawyers in the House of Commons, Jeff belongs to the Conservative Party, and I've never voted that way in my life. It is possible that one of the other tenants put the sign in, or Luc himself. More likely it was the act of an overly aggressive campaign worker. Nobody consulted me however and it's on my side of the building. I went to pull it out and then realized that would be hypocritical. I'm not voting for Jeff but I do want to see him re-elected. And I've made no secret about that.

I have rarely voted in provincial or federal elections, disparaging the process. I think party politics inevitably corrupt democracy. Since 9/11 however, I no longer feel I have the luxury of staying above the fray. While I would like to see the party system replaced by a modern day equivalent of Athenian direct democracy, I now think we have to get our hands dirty working with the broken down model we currently own.

While it is true that most governments in democratic states end up breaking their promises and carrying out policies they opposed before they were elected, and that the interests of working people are seldom advanced even by the politicians who claim to represent them, at least they are making some stumbling efforts to improve our common welfare and security. So, frightened as I am by the attacks on our freedom coming from terrorist and totalitarian movements, I'm paying a lot more attention these days to the problem of good government.

The federal Liberal Party has been in power for 12 years, the last 18 months as the lead minority in parliament. In many ways they haven't done that bad a job, especially when they have been influenced by their left wing sidekicks, the New Democrats.

In the last year though, the Gomery commission has exposed a seamy underside of corrupt financial practices that took place under the former prime minister. His successor has attempted to clean house, but can't escape from the fact that he was the finance minister during the period in question. Paul Martin may be an honest man, but he and his party are tarred with political liability for crimes that were committed under their watch.

A second issue for me, although it has only been raised sporadically in a few ridings, was the Liberals' decision to destabilize Haiti and destroy the emerging democratic institutions of that country.

That said, I had no problem if the last parliament had stayed in session until the final Gomery report is released in a few weeks, which is when Martin had promised to call an election. However after months of supporting the Liberals during the scandal, Jack Layton, the leader of the New Democrats, decided shortly before Christmas that the matter had become so urgent he brought down the government by joining with the other opposition parties in a vote of no confidence.

Despite the suspicion that Jack was primarily concerned with improving the fortunes of his own party, I will accept at face value that he believes the country would be better off if the Conservatives form the next government. He knows the NDP only has the support of about 20 per cent of the electorate and he hopes at best to gain a few more more seats to improve his bargaining position in another minority parliament. It must have been a bit scary for him when opinion polling last week indicated the Conservatives might get an outright majority. Yesterday it appeared that Conservative support had ebbed a bit and that they will be a few seats short of taking control of the legislature.

Here in the riding of Essex, Watson is in a tight two-way race with the former liberal incumbent and cabinet minister, Susan Whelan, whom he narrowly defeated in the last election. The other candidates aren't considered serious challengers but the NDP candidate, Taras Natyshak, might draw off enough support from Whelan to ensure Watson's re-election. Probably not though. He's new and relatively unknown, unlike the NDP candidate last time, a popular former mayor. Still the president of my union, CAW leader Buzz Hargrove, so fears a Conservative victory that he is urging NDP voters in Essex to support Whelan instead.
Indeed Buzz is supporting the separatist Bloc Québécois for the same reasons.

Both my brothers, one in management and the other a member of the CAW, are supporting Whelan. They tell me that some of the town politicians who supported Watson last time are switching back to Whelan because they are unhappy with his lobbying efforts on local issues, something the more experienced Liberal excelled at.

I had lunch last week with my friend Zonk, who lives in west Windsor. He said this election we have a choice between the corrupt and the crazies. I admitted that I was contemplating voting for Watson and he reminded me of the nasty right wing extremist language some of the Conservatives used in the last election. This time they have been far more careful, but many of the same people are still there as candidates or party hacks. Zonk doesn't have a difficult choice. His MP won for the New Democrats by a large majority last time and is expected to repeat. I reminded him that in my riding Whelan was the minister for International Cooperation during the lead up to the overthrow of the Haitian government.

In the end I decided not to vote for Watson, largely because of a phone call. It was one of those annoying election recordings, this one attacking gay marriage and promising that the Conservatives would have parliament reconsider the issue. The speaker's tone had a homophobic sneer, at least to my ear, while speaking the code words that kept the message within the bounds of politically correct speech. I'm not a big fan of gay marriage, preferring the state get out of the marriage business entirely, but I know a bigot when I hear one. I hung up before the message ended and don't know if this was part of Watson's official campaign. In any case the reconsideration is part of the Conservative platform and the call tipped the balance of my deliberations. I feel justified in giving Watson and Conservative leader Stephen Harper only the benefit of my not voting against them. And if Taras had a chance of winning he would have my vote.

I do think Layton is right, even if his timing is questionable. The Liberals deserve to spend a term in the opposition and a minority parliament is the safest situation to test the Conservatives on their ability to govern competently and with respect for human rights. If it appeared that the Liberals were going to form another government, I think I would swallow my reservations and vote for Jeff. With some relief, and a hope that the polls are accurate, I find I can abstain once again.

Why not give my vote to one of the parties considered unlikely to win in the riding: the NDP, the Greens or the Marxist-Leninists?

I'm taking a lessor evil approach here. I don't want to support any party, and wish that eventually they all will be banished from the political landscape. Given that every vote cast in a federal election is also used to provide public funding to the party that receives it, I want to be extra parsimonious with my endorsements.

One final problem. I've spent a lot of time and effort coming to this decision. I read the party platforms and campaign literature, visited their web sites, listened to the debates, followed the news and commentary, talked it over with other voters, even went for a long walk to think it over. If I simply don't show up on election day my non vote gets lumped in with the apathetic and the apolitical. If I spoil my ballot or leave it blank I am numbered among the careless.

In provincial elections there is a procedure where a voter can present themselves at a polling station and formally decline the ballot. We should have that right at the federal level as well. In fact the Chief Electoral Officer has recommended the Canada Elections Act be amended to include such an option.

Voter turnout has been steadily declining for decades. In Canadian elections it is down to around 60%. The Iraqis do better and they risk their lives to cast their ballots. We need to show that the problem is not with the voters but with the parties that serve us so poorly.

Posted: Sun - January 22, 2006 at 03:10 PM          

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