Complacency is the Canadian Way

How often do any of us take the time to sit down and really think about how we plan to vote in a public election? How many of us actually weigh the pros and cons of our choices, look at the broad view rather than the immediate impact and actually make an informed decision? My opinion is purely antidotal, but I bet very few, if any of us, really do.

Take for example the current government in Ottawa. The Liberal party has had control of the country since the days when a bar of gold was actually more expensive than a gallon of gas. They’ve been through scandal after scandal and have shown their contempt for public opinion time and again, yet they retain power. While taxes continue to eat away at any loose change we may have in our pockets and while securing funding for everything from health care education is a constant battle for provinces, the federal surplus becomes more obscene year after year. Yet there they remain.

Why do we continue to elect officials who don’t answer to their constituents? Are we so gullible as to continue to believe broken election promise after broken election promise? Are the spin doctors that are paid for by our tax dollars so good that they have the entire population hypnotized?

I’m the first to jump on an issue when I feel the powers that be are not doing the right thing, but in reality it’s not the governing party that’s at fault in these situations, it’s the public. That’s right, you, me and every other voter out there (and especially the 50 to 60 percent of the public who don’t vote) who are ultimately to blame.

We see it time and time again. MPs like Gerry Byrne from Newfoundland and Labrador who misses as many votes in the House of Commons as he attends, or Minister John Efford who continues to curl up at Paul Martin’s feet like a well trained lap dog, even at the expense of his own constituents.

A prime example of this type of blind voting occurred in a by-election in Labrador. The voters of the Big Land were in a position where their Liberal man in Ottawa had sadly passed away. The Liberal government was in a position where they needed every single vote they could muster if they hoped to avoid a non-confidence vote and retain power beyond the summer. What did the fine folks of Labrador do? They elected a Liberal of course and helped cement the party’s powerbase, rather than taking the opportunity to elect an independent. This was a chance to elect someone who would only have to answer to the electorate, not a party, and could force some real attention on Labrador issues like the survival of the 5 Wing Goose air base. Go figure.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not endorsing any particular party or candidate, just the concept of educated voting for a change. The “blind voting” phenomena is not just a Newfoundland and Labrador issue either, though those where the examples I used to illustrate the point. If it was, it wouldn’t be the end of the world since the seven federal seats the province has is only a blip on the national radar. No, it’s a nation wide issue and one that should have every one of us hanging our heads in shame.

We are all like a bunch of dogs that have been kicked by our masters for so long, we’re afraid to do anything that might even resemble independent thought or movement. God forbid we should take some time to review the voting records of our elected officials. It’s too much work for us to sit and think back over a government’s previous term in order to see how we really feel they performed. No, it’s much easier just to wait for a candidate to show up at our door or a local bbq and which ever one looks the friendliest can have our vote.

It’s no big deal, after all, it’s only our future, our money and our lives that they have in their hands when the go off to Ottawa. It’s not like they’re doing anything important. I mean complacency is the Canadian way.