On Thanksgiving Monday I stood in line at Handsworth secondary waiting to vote in the advance poll for the upcoming federal election.
I was betting that everyone else would be at home feasting. Unfortunately 3.6 million other Canadians had the same idea. Hence the lineup. That’s OK. It gave me time to reflect on the longest election campaign in modern times. And all grumbling about the length of the campaign aside, it’s been ... interesting.
Speaking of tedious, it was as if the digital revolution never happened at poll #600. Elections Canada personnel took us through a process that was invented by Charles Dickens. It’s a wonder they weren’t all sitting on high stools wielding quills.
First, they match your voter card and your ID. Then they write down your name. Then they check off your name using (get this) a ruler. Then you have to sign your name. And only then do they cough up a ballot, which you mark with a pencil. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say it takes about an hour, and that’s if everything goes well.
Still, it’s an honour and a privilege to vote. Said the woman next to me: “When I think about people in other places who walk for miles just to vote, this doesn’t seem so bad.”
Exactly. Democracy is a grind. In fact, it’s a Grouse Grind. As Justin Trudeau strides up Mother Nature’s Stairmaster in that Liberal commercial, North Vancouver Liberal candidate Jonathan Wilkinson matches him frame for frame. Wilkinson had to climb the mountain twice. According to the usually reliable campaign sources, he went up the week before to make sure he could get to the top in under an hour to keep up with the pace set by his apparently fearless (and fit) leader.
Could Stephen Harper climb the Grind in under an hour? Maybe North Vancouver incumbent Andrew Saxton could; he looks pretty fit. But he seems reluctant to appear in public, at least at all-candidates town halls sponsored by environmental groups. If he’s avoiding hostile environments, that would have to include the Grouse Grind.
How about Tom Mulcair? The NDP leader started the campaign in a great position to “stop Harper” yet has promised more of the same: a balanced budget, appealing to accountants everywhere.
For everyone else, how about universal daycare … eight years from now? In eight years, today’s eligible toddlers won’t need daycare. They’ll be shaving. If you’re North Vancouver NDP candidate
Carleen Thomas, that’s some choice when you go door-knocking.
Speaking of choices, there’s Green candidate Claire Martin. Energetic, photogenic, she has everything going for her, except that her previous experience is as a CBC TV weather celebrity. So is she ready? And even if it’s a good idea to be represented by a meteorologist in this time of climate change, “strategic” voting works against her. It’s unlikely the Greens will win enough seats to dislodge Harper, and that seems to be the overwhelming ballot question: Is it time for a change? And if the answer is yes, Claire Martin may be too Green.
Payam Azad apparently has all the time in the world. If you’re lucky, you can spot the North Vancouver independent wandering around the riding putting up his own, utterly unreadable signs outlining his platform. So you don’t know if he’s ready or not. After enough squinting drive-bys, I’ve been able to determine that he’s promising to nationalize the banks. That’s the sort of stuff the NDP used to promise before they discovered the galvanizing magic of a balanced budget.
Ready or not, your last chance to vote is Election Day: Monday, Oct. 19.
Make it count. Or at least make them count it.
Journalist and communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Vancouver resident since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
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