Just Get Out and Vote Already

Elections are unpredictable, whatever the pollsters say. Don't miss your chance.

There is an old saying that if you want to know what someone is writing about, read the last paragraph.

On April 22, 2011, in The Globe and Mail, Bruce Anderson (Canada’s quiet über-authority in the polling field), senior associate with Harris/Decima and senior vice-president with National Public Relations, made the following observation about the wild fluctuations in Canadian federal election polls:

“Ten days ago, conventional wisdom had it that the campaign was all but over, and nothing different would come of it. Today, new scenarios are created every hour or two. The safest bet is that there may be a turn or two left as voters start to think more seriously about the choice they will make on May 2. Until then, the fluctuations in the polls are the sound of people thinking out loud, not deciding.”

Eureka, I thought. That’s right. The great collective mind of the Canadian people is weighing the options right now, not deciding, and in their collective wisdom will deliver a verdict on May 2 that could be wildly different from what we are seeing today.

When the election campaign began, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were headed for a majority government, or at least another minority. But then the NDP surged in Quebec, while the Bloc Québécois suffered, and now the outcome isn't at all clear.

Election campaigns are like that. Sometimes the end result is completely different from what anyone expects, including the pollsters.

Jamie Deacey, the salty owner and president of Association House, an Ottawa lobbying firm and a seasoned adviser to the Liberal party, deadpanned it on April 25’s Power Play when he upstaged former National Citizens Coalition president Gerry Nicholls by reminding him that the Liberal party has been around for more than 100 years and it’s unlikely it’s going anywhere yet.

Lawrence Martin, on the website iPolitics.ca on April 27, wrote at length about the issue of Canadian democracy.

Margaret Atwood, who predicted the world-wide financial collapse, has done her paper-napkin analysis.

What are they all saying? They are asking voters to think. Albert Einstein called it sifting through the data.

Based on the Anderson assumption that this is what these erratic polls are indicating Canadians are doing, I’d say: Keep it up, Canada.

Read as much as you can. Listen to what the party leaders are saying and doing. Follow them on television. CPAC is a great source of commercial-free information.

Above all, think about the consequences for Canada when you check that box on your ballot.

Your single vote, combined with all the other single votes, will create a real politics of inclusion. It is the only way we have to interact with our politicians to hold them to account to make a difference in our country.

And don’t be swayed by attack ads or their definitions of the leaders. Vote with your head as well as your heart. Give all the leaders a chance based on your opinion of what they are trying to tell you themselves, and think carefully about the strength and credibility of their costing and of the teams around them.

Be fair. That’s the Canadian way. And above all, VOTE. People in other countries are literally dying for the right to live and vote in a democratic society.