Once again voter turnout has failed to impress. In most cases, fewer than half of the eligible Wellington County voters exercised their franchise. There are reasons for that malaise.
Voter’s lists were not without discrepancies, even though municipalities under an amalgamated Wellington County have run numerous elections. Despite pleas from all the clerks to check the voters’ lists, there were people who did not receive a ballot under alternative systems, while others who have moved away were sent a package to vote. We suggest that it would be well worth the money to hire local people to do enumerations like they did years ago, and less taxing for voters in terms of time.
Like it or not, many potential voters are not plugged in enough or do not feel educated on the issues enough to feel comfortable voting. More than a few have suggested they wouldn’t want to cast a vote in ignorance. Admittedly, it is tough to know all candidates and all issues. It takes work, and even those interested enough to peruse the News each week can have an uneasy task when it comes to choosing how to vote.
While we understand the sentiment, which is a right of choice itself, Canadians will shortly be reminded by Remembrance Day of the sacrifices of soldiers in World Wars I and II, and with those efforts the inherent obligation to vote. But, the democracy of then and what passes for it now are two very different animals.
We maintain that the electorate has increasingly been short-changed in recent years, by all levels of government. That is not to suggest a conspiracy exists, but rather, through individual neglect and absence of genuine interest in how government works, service to citizens has taken a back seat to the system.
For starters, there are fewer politicians, courtesy of amalgamation over 10 years ago. Today, the majority of citizens would be hard pressed to recognize civic leaders, apart from photographs in Newspapers. The size of townships, combined with a steadily increasing population, has only exacerbated the separation of civic leader and resident.
Further to that, the townships are large enough that few people sitting on council have a firm grasp on all issues. Sure there are staff reports, but to understand particular community problems requires a hands-on viewpoint. This should not be construed as a criticism of individual councillors, but rather an observation of a system that was based on ideology at the provincial government level and implemented using impractical, local political boundaries rather than what made the most sense for service delivery. Things are too big to conceivably believe that a councillor today can be a local expert of sorts.
The second stab at local democracy has to be the four year term, again forced by the provincial level onto municipal councils, which has resulted in a further disengagement with voters. While the concept of giving the extra year was an opportunity to start and conclude capital works projects and perhaps have more stability in charting the course of local government, the nomination period which starts Jan. 2 of year four, throws that asunder. Frankly, four years is too long – and depending on the results in any reader’s particular municipality, it can be an insufferable time, without reprieve.
Many of the seniors we chat with suggest the old nomination format every two years was far healthier for local democracy. Joe or Jill could not get too far out of line when they had to seek a nomination more regularly. In our cozy democracy today, we forget that the power of election is essentially absolute, with no power of recall or a mechanism to move people along who are clearly there for their own purposes – or perhaps more acute, leveraging the future of their townships with capital projects and operating costs that are unsustainable in the longer term.
We have to believe this inability to remedy a problem adds to the frustration of voters. More than one acquaintance this past round suggested to us there is no point voting, finding it less frustrating to pay the bill and do something they enjoy rather than rail against a system that is, in many ways, unbeatable.
Adding to that is the pervasive use of spin, a form of false language beautifully articulated lately by one of the country’s preeminent national affairs columnists. Spin has touched every fibre of political dialogue, where absolute facts are supplanted by intended meanings, exaggerations, and downright lies. Think of the promise to abolish the GST, or a pledge to invoke no new taxes, that deregulation will lead to better electricity prices, or as close to home as phrases like “revenue neutral.” It is clap trap. Where does the truth lie and who has the time to figure it out?
That spin is compounded by the prevalence of social networking and the magic of the Internet and email, where information and rhetoric are spouted as fact. Consider for a moment that one individual’s version of reality, no matter how off-base it may be, can be provided as fact to supporters – in essence, establishing a parallel reality to what is really going on. That technology can be an invaluable tool and a great benefit, but the absence of credibility is an issue to watch. Operating under the cover of darkness, myths and half truths are able to flourish – much like proverbial mushrooms.
As for Wellington County’s turnover and the changes felt across much of the county, we use the tried and true phrase “the people have spoken” to explain it. That’s about all citizens have left.
