Check in, not out, of democracy

Did you know that Canada had its worst voter turnout in history during the last Federal election? 58.8% percent to be exact. As a percentage of the population, more people voted in the 1882 Federal election (70.3%) than in 2008, and they didn't have the luxury of motorized vehicles. They had to get on their horses, carriages, or camels and make their way to the polling stations. Okay, they didn't have camels, but you get the idea...it required effort and dedication to the idea of democracy. It certainly makes the 41.2% of Canadians who didn't vote in 2008 look darn lazy. With polling stations on every other block, and the only requirement to cast your vote is that you have a pulse and are breathing, it's hard to come up with an excuse not to vote.

Why?

Why are people not voting? Where did the voter apathy come from? My two cents; it's partially Canadian culture, and partially our voting system. I recently met some foreigners, and speaking with them really drove home the idea that as Canadians, we are apathetic and far too polite for our own good. We roll over and take it, and never complain. Other countries demonstrate, go on strike, boycott, burn cars, and chain themselves to railways to make a point. Our most outspoken activists write letters to the Globe and Mail or organize kayak trips. I'm not advocating that you go out and burn cars when you are displeased with the tar sands, but hey, if you're unhappy with something, let someone know. And no, informing your dog of your discontent doesn't count.

Our first-past-the-post system rewards the large incumbents and hinders smaller parties; essentially preventing them from ever getting a meaningful number of seats in the House. Unless you vote for the winning party, your vote does not count. People are forced to vote 'strategically' in order to make their vote count. Proportional representation is what we need to be aiming for, where the percentage of votes for a given party translates roughly into an equal number of seats. To put this in perspective, in 2008 the Conservatives received 38% of the votes, but received 46% of the seats. The NDP received 18% of the votes, but only 12% of the seats. The Green party fared even worse, with 7% of the votes, but 0 seats. A voting system that allocated seats based on actual votes received (or some other fancy calculation) would ensure better representation for all Canadians, and give people more reason to vote.

Vote with your actions

You also 'vote' in actions and words, every day, by the things you buy, don't buy, do, and don't do. When I ride my bike over the Burrard St Bridge, and I cross those bike counters, I always think '1 vote for biking; 0 votes for cars'. My bike trip is being counted and noticed by someone at City Hall. When I go to the grocery store and buy organic produce, again, I'm voting with my food dollars. I'm saying to the grocery store and food producers, 'Hey, this is important, keep growing organic food'.

Be active, vote with your actions, and engage in our democratic process. It our best, heck our only, option for impacting policy and change.