The signs and placards are in place and the platforms are being communicated to voters as the six-horse race that is the Alberta provincial election gets set to unfold on May 5. While there are certainly better ways to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the election with all its banter, rhetoric, and promises will take us once more unto the democratic breach as incumbents and newcomers strive to beat every vote out of the electoral piñata! The challenge though when it comes to piñatas is the matter of the blindfold. The same can be said about voting!
Over the past many provincial elections I have hoped that there would be a greater level of interest from voters in a concerted desire to leverage voices towards promoting higher levels of government accountability and responsibility. Instead, with only 40.6 per cent turnout in 2008 and the mildly better 54.4 per cent in 2012 we continued to get more of the same old flavour; although the last round did come with the added sideshow of floor crossings. Lots of blindfolds in that case!
The current government, in seeking to manage its provincial priorities has once more adopted the Walmart strategy of rollbacks. They will take the scalpel to health care and not fund new enrolment in education while remaining content to allow the big corporations to enjoy our resources when even a modest increase to corporate tax would go a long way to feeding the family while paying down the mortgage. Norway has proven this concept!
Recent opinion polls suggest that there is tremendous discontent with the current state of affairs. Lobbyists seek to sway opinion and assuage our concerns with various counter strategies and assure us that they can do better than the status quo. Unions, activists and parent groups decry the cutbacks and perceived unfairness of the PC budget but, as mentioned earlier, there are those still wearing blindfolds. There are those who will not cast a ballot. Why not? Simply put: apathy.
We have not had a voter turnout over 60 per cent since 1993. Some people vote the same way every time, no matter the quality of the candidate, because that’s how it’s always been. This is the folly of hereditary politics. Many do not vote simply because they believe benevolent dictatorship is a foregone conclusion. That is to say political power has not changed hands in Alberta since 1971; so why bother voting?
Let’s face it folks, no party is perfect. With six official parties running this time round there will be vote splitting and the pollsters will tell you that the outcome is likely not going to be much different than the last 43 years. So why not simply stay home and have a cerveza or two and save yourself the trouble? After all, sometimes it’s better to keep the blinders on!
Or, you could take off the blindfold, pick up the pencil which is mightier than the piñata stick and, make your mark on the political landscape. It may be that the soundtrack of the evening will be “Landslide” but, it could also be the case that it just might be “We’re not gonna take it!”
On May 5, exercise your democratic right that our veterans fought so hard to safeguard. Vote!
Tim Cusack is an educator, writer, and member of the Royal Canadian Navy.
