MAY 23, 2007

       So another election has come and gone.  It’s the day after when I ask myself, “What have we learned from all this?”  This time around I learned that people have interesting reasons for not voting in the provincial election.

       Perhaps it was bad timing that the premier scheduled the campaigning during NHL playoffs.  And if there’s one thing the CBC learned from its curling debacle a couple years ago, it’s don’t interrupt sports programming for news – that’s not the Canadian way.  On Tuesday, I was told by a few dedicated hockey fans that they wouldn’t vote because CBC Manitoba preempted the finals for the regional election coverage.

       Other people had more legitimate reasons for not marking an X on the ballot.  Weather played a factor in keeping people at home.  The rain just wouldn’t let up and some voters didn’t want to step outside.  Strangely, many of whom were still able to get to work that day.

       Another reason for the lack of turnout -- although it reportedly had jumped slightly to 58 per cent this election – was that the price of gas is just too darn high.

       I received an e-mail from one rural area resident who wished to remain nameless.  It read, “If they couldn’t bother to lower the price of gas before the election how are they expecting us in small towns to get out and vote when we have to drive to another town?”

       Despite all these factors, it was also simply the message that party leaders had during the campaign that turned off voters.

       Mudslinging is commonplace from start to finish in the political race.  A few perspective voters I heard from said that they couldn’t even pinpoint what a party’s platform was, however, they did know exactly what promises their rivals hadn’t kept.

       In other words, the message we’re getting is, “Vote for us because we’re less bad than the other guy.  But there’s no actual reason to elect us, just don’t trust them.”

       Then there are the skeptics who won’t vote because “it’s not going to matter anyway.”  I have friends who say that.  My response to them is that if the other 42 per cent of those eligible who didn’t vote would change their opinion, perhaps we could all come together as a democracy and force a change.

       In closing, what did I learn?  There are far more reasons to not vote than to actually cast a ballot and have my voice heard.  Oh yeah, and that hockey is still more important than politics just as long as I don’t have to drive to the game in the rain.  (FYI- yes, I did vote on Tuesday.)