- by Dylan Henry

This past election, the first federal election I could vote in, I voted for my Liberal Party candidate, and by extension, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who ran as a member of the Liberal Party. By doing this, I exercised my political right, a right many people do not choose to use. My hope with this paper is to encourage those who do not vote, to vote, and to encourage more political discussion overall.

This piece is not an attack on any political party, nor on any individual politician. Rather, it is a call to fellow Canadians. Whether or not you voted Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green Party, independent, or not at all we all have one common trait that binds us together, our Canadian identity.

What is a Canadian? A tricky question. A variety of answers exist for various groups of people. For the purpose of my critique, a Canadian will be described as an individual with the right to vote. Obviously, this is a problematic answer, but I am not seeking to go into all the problems that exist when it comes to the term Canadian. Rather, I simply want to discuss voting, participation, and what I see as problems in our democratic society. While this is not a thorough answer, I hope the reader can forgive me and still take the meaning from what I have written.

Let's get started. Voting is one of the core rights Canadians have. In our democratic society voting is a core value that allows citizens to express their beliefs and values by voting for representatives that, as the name suggests, represents them. For the population and size of Canada, representative democracy is the only form that is seen as viable. 36 million people cannot all express their opinions and desires to one another in one meeting place like the Ancient Greeks did, it simply isn't viable. Instead, Canadians have the right to vote and the right to have their representative express their values and beliefs. This sounds wonderful, but only when the system works.
Problem number one, voting. In 2011 61.1% of people who had the right to vote did so. The percentage in 2015 was 68.3%. While 2015 was better than 2011, the numbers are not encouraging. I will not pretend to know why 31.7% of people did not vote in 2015, I do not have the statistics for those people. My belief though, is that this number should be higher. By not voting Canadians do not attempt to elect the person who can represent them. We will now go through various reasons why people do not vote, and their problems.

First of all, people who choose not to vote based on their own political beliefs are within their right to do so. People who desire a different form of government, or who feel none of the options represent them are participating in their own way, this is their belief. I feel there is nothing wrong with this. So, this will count towards the 31.7% of people who chose to not vote; but exactly how many is unknown and is unlikely a high number. The next reason, and a popular one, is that people were busy, forgot, didn't feel like it, didn't know the politicians et cetera. These are poor excuses because voting is one of our most important rights! People need to vote if they want to be represented within the democratic system. Canada makes it fairly easy for people to find time to vote, there are many methods available for voting that make it easy for the voter. Many people also believe that their vote simply does not matter, what does one vote even mean? It actually means a lot. If 31.7% of people casted their 'meaningless' vote, it could have drastically altered who won the election, and by what majority. On the other side, people also argue that they wanted to vote for a small party and for that reason did not vote, since they believed that they would not win anyways. To me this is a poor excuse as well. A close friend of mine went out on election day and voted for the Green Party, understanding that they did not have a real chance of winning, not yet. They did this though in order to have that statistic exist that the Green Party received his vote. This friend has strong beliefs when it comes to the environment, and by voting they expressed this by voting for the party they felt shared this value the most. Did they win? No, but now the statistical data exists that they voted for the Green Party, and they expressed who they felt would best represent them. By not voting you do not express your values (unless of course your values consist of a system other than democracy) and that voice is lost. Voting, no matter for who, is extremely important, and it is the democratic duty of Canadians who believe in the system to do so.

So, after the election, your party lost, do you wait until next election to once more express yourself? No, Canadians need to remain politically active. Remain critical of the party in power and of the representatives of your area. Have discussions and debate with one another. Do not be afraid of people disagreeing with you, disagreement is good, and it encourages critical thought. If everyone simply agreed or remained silent there would be no reason for change to occur.

I voted for Prime Minister Trudeau, my preferred party won, and with a majority. Should I remain silent? No, as many people seem to forget, it is okay to disagree with the party you voted for! Am I 100% satisfied with Prime Minister Trudeau, of course not. Simply because I voted for Liberal does not mean I can't be critical of him. Simply casting my vote for Prime Minister Trudeau does not mean I blindly agree on everything, people are allowed to criticize and debate what he has done. There is never an excuse for not being critical, especially with politics. So, I encourage everyone to vote and to enter discussion with one another, take advantage of your democratic right!

The last topic I wish to touch on is ways of discussing politicians and their politics, and how people discuss politics with one another. I would stress that meaningless anger and attacking one another over different beliefs is pointless. It simply makes meaningful discussion impossible and disrupts debate. I would remind people that no matter who voted for who, we are all Canadians, and voting for different political groups is simply our right. I would also remind people, and politicians, that using anger to attack politicians does not offer solutions. People are allowed to disagree with political agendas, even to feel anger over them, but politicians who offer few solutions and simply fuel the flames are not engaging in meaningful discussion. Ultimately, we are all Canadians and all want our country to prosper.

Canada is a wonderful country, and we are fortunate as a people to be able to express ourselves and to vote for our representatives. If you disagree with a political party, discuss it. If you do not agree with a political policy, be open about it. Critical discussion can take many forms. What I have written here is my values and beliefs, many people may disagree with me on various topics throughout. If so, discuss it, I welcome people to agree or disagree with me; after all, political discussion is what I hope to promote.