Casting the ballot
As Quebeckers prepare to go to the polls for tomorrow’s provincial election, I decided to post a column that I wrote for a class after the federal election (my teacher really didn’t like my Halloween rant, by the way. She prefered this one.)
As Americans voted massively last Tuesday to elect Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States, Canadians watched and commented avidly, as if it were our own election. Or rather, as if it were not.
We snubbed our federal election a few weeks ago and failed to exercise our democratic duty. But that doesn’t mean that we have become apathetic and uninterested in politics. Our interest in the events unfolding south of the border has shown that our leaders have failed to generate and maintain attention in Canadian public affairs.
The facts speak for themselves. On Oct. 14, voter turnout reached a record low with only 59.1 per cent of Canadians casting their ballots. On Nov. 4, about 64 per cent of eligible citizens voted in the United States — the best turnout rate in the last 44 years.
Why such a difference? To begin with, the American election was a crucial one. It came at a time of uncertainty, while the country is facing a major economic crisis and is involved in two wars. After eight years of rigid conservatism, Americans felt the responsibility to initiate the change they deemed necessary and a majority of them didn’t belive that the McCain-Palin team could adress those issues.
This election was also a historic one since Obama will be the first African-American president, although race played less of a role in the voters’ decisions than age, according to exit polls.
But the biggest factor that contributed to this huge voter turnout is certainly Obama’s personality, as well as the remarkable campaign that he led during two years. He concentrated his effort on unifying the American people behind his message of hope and change and attracting certain demographic groups who historically have never bothered to cast their ballots. Blacks, for example, accounted for 13 per cent of the electorate, up two percentage points from 2004. They overwhelmingly gave their vote to Obama at 96 per cent. Sixty-seven per cent of Latinos and 63 per cent of Asians voted for him.
Obama made a tremendous effort to attract the youth vote, notably by relying heavily on the Internet to deliver his message, in a way that had never been done before and that will shape election campaigns around the world for the years to come. As a result, voters between 18 and 29 represented 18 per cent of the vote and about 68 per cent of them chose Obama.
By comparison, our federal election looked bland. We knew from the beginning that it didn’t have the potential to change significantly the Canadian political landscape, it was never about that. What Harper wanted was just to geta majority for his government.
We also knew that we were tired of going to the polls (Quebeckers are getting ready for their fourth election in three years) and that we were not interested in gratuitous attack ads featuring birds defecating on a candidate’s shoulder — Obama proved that the best campaigns are run with dignity. By calling an election, the prime minister abused the democratic system. We shouldn’t be surprised that so few people went out to vote.
Canada is capable of doing better, though. Our highest voter turnout, reached in 1958 when 79.4 per cent of eligible citizens participated in the election, is well above our neighbour’s (65.7 per cent in 1908.) But the leaders are responsible for that kind of reaction just as we are. Show us the way, and we will follow.
