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Fi rst-ti me reel I ng By Wendy Case

I came home last week, and there, waiting on my dresser, was my first ever voting card.
Now, some people would have said “cool” and then gone on to other things. Me? Nah, I
jumped up and down like some prepubescent schoolgirl who had just been told that she had
tickets to the concert of the year.

I missed voting in the last federal election by a mere two months and six days. Unlike
a few of my lucky classmates, I was stuck watching all of the election coverage without the
ability to change anything. I watched CBC until all of the results had come in. Much to my
dismay, the Conservatives were in. I felt powerless and filled with teenage angst.

This time around though, I have a vote. As a matter of fact, in the

coming year I have three major elections to vote in. As a first time voter I’m
anxious with all of this civic responsibility that has been thrown upon my
shoulders. I have a duty to make an informed decision when I vote. Unlike

many of my friends, I’ve never considered not voting. It’s a privilege to vote

and I take it seriously. It’s not because my parents think that you should vote;

I personally believe that it’s the one way that I can make a difference.

Before I received my voter card, I was confused. What would I need to vote? Some
people told me that I’d need my hydro bill and picture identification. This scared the crap
out of me. My hydro bill isn’t in my name! I was plagued by worries that I might not be
able to vote. The information available on what you need in order to vote is confusing and
contradictory. I eventually just went to the Elections Canada website.

Shortly thereafter, my voting card arrived and my anxiety subsided. However,
acquaintances of mine haven’t been so lucky. Like most first time voters, they don’t know
if they’re registered or even. how to register to vote. Something tells me this might have
something to do with the low youth voter turnout.

Canadian politics may not be the glamour contest that it is in the United States, but I
still find it utterly fascinating. You see, while I realistically understand that only two of the

major parties have a chance at forming the government, I am still exposed to numerous other
parties with dynamic platforms and ideas. I live for the debates and devour the poll results.
I live, eat, and breathe election until the results are announced. I agree with parts of most of
the platforms, but I’m still in a quandary: who should I vote for?

In my riding of Vancouver South there’s only one candidate that I know anything about.
Of course, since Ujjal Dosanjh was the Premier of B.C., that’s no surprise. The others are
unknowns to me. I want to make my vote count, so I guess Ill have to vote like so many
Canadians: not on the individual candidate, but on the party he or she represents. Regardless,
I couldn’t be more excited to be a voting member of society for the first time.

 

 

 
 
 
  
  

Le hindi 23 janvier 2006

Or See itt 7880) |
fa) eee ees 28 od

Si vos nom et adresse

   

ELECTION GENERALE FEDERALE

 

werw, elections.ca
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# trie card i rot addressed to you Si cate carte ne vows est 995 YOUR NAME
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eenber on the Dack, tibbphore ae numéro
Fo vettn you mast: loci pce ies oo
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«be af bnant 18 years okt Sage Pau moing 18 ae
on dary toction

 

 

Why Should I Care? s, sisies seine:

i... when I was a young, middle-class kid, I volunteered to work on an election.
Having eagerly waited for over a decade to finally have the opportunity to vote, I

took this chance to fully immerse myself in political culture; after all, I had wanted to
become Prime Minister since before I graduated elementary school. Little did I know
how difficult the process was: the current system in place, and the people involved with
it have created an impossible situation where the politicians are far removed from the
average person.

While working on the campaign I came to find the dark side of politics. That’s right,
Darth Vader himself was the campaign manager! Okay, perhaps not Vader himself, but
there were many opportunists at work here, much like the followers of the Dark Side. I
should have been aware of these types; parents pass down lectures like childhood fables
about the real world, including some about those opportunists, but who really pays
attention to those stories? Not me, that’s for sure. I didn’t truly believe that these types
outnumbered the good, the honest, and the genuine.

During my time at the campaign office I was continually berated for doing the
slightest things. For instance, answering the phone! Yes, when people called up to learn
more about our candidate while I was on duty, I was not supposed to answer the phone.
How could that be? Are we not supposed to ensure that when someone has a question
about the candidate that they are dealt with in a timely manner? I mean, isn’t that how
to get our candidate elected? Apparently not...how can these people feel that it’s right to
distance the candidate from the people?

“You know the phones ring in all our offices?” said a rather large, rather angry,
disgruntled and disheveled campaign volunteer.

“Yes, but it had been more than five rings and I felt it best to take care of voters
before they leave upset or anything like that,” I replied in a staunch matter assured that
my answer was the only correct one there could be.

“But we can answer that; you don’t know the issues” she sniped back.

“Look I’m just going to keep doing it, so we can keep having this conversation or
you can just accept it. Either way is good for me!” I retorted (I was kind of an ass back
then too ,by the way...maybe that played into it).

I felt powerless and alone around these people, and I could not believe the gall of
these ungrateful people who did not graciously accept all the help they could get.

This is indicative of the bureaucrats, the ones who assume power alongside the
candidate after the election. How can they do that? Well, often many of these people are

8

 

the same ones that are hired on if the candidate is elected. That’s right. These are the
analysts, the advisors, etc., the ones that continue this separation between the politicians
and us afterwards. The only way to avoid this is to hold politicians responsible and
expect that they will not play into this game. Rather, we should elect grassroots
politicians who do not view a conversation with them as a privilege, but rather a right we
have as voters.

Until then, this disconnect between voters and people will only continue to worsen.
How many rings did it take this time before you got through?