| An enormous man opened the apartment door; he filled up the entire aperture, and more. He glowered at us. "Yes?"
I was introduced as the New Democrat candidate for Calgary Varsity. "Do you have any questions for Susan?" asked my companion. The man’s features began to soften. "I’m not sure you will want to talk to me," said the man. "Politics are my passion, but I’m to the right of the (Canadian) Alliance, even to the right of Genghis Khan."
Strange to say for a bleeding-heart leftie, I could have hugged him all the way to Christmas. Running in the 2001 provincial election against Tory incumbent Murray Smith, who subsequently became the energy minister, I had encountered nothing but almost militant apathy that I had found very disappointing, considering there were so many students in the riding.
Here was a kindred spirit. Even if he was at the other end of the political spectrum, at least he had given some thought to the matter and cared about the outcome. Much more typical was the attitude of another who declared, "There’s no point because the government always gets in," or a third who barked, "I don’t vote. I tried it once and never again." "Did it bite?" I asked sweetly. It’s probably a coincidence, but both these young men looked remarkably like Premier Ralph Klein and at least one came to the door with a can of beer in hand.
Since then, many developing countries and our U.S. cousins have gone to vote and as I watch people lining up for the privilege, I wonder why we take this basic act of democracy so lightly in this province. Not much more than 50 per cent of the electorate hauled themselves out to vote in the last provincial election.
There were certainly issues such as health care, crowded classrooms, soaring utility bills, the growing numbers of homeless people, children going to school hungry, the huge cost of secondary education that was and is crippling young people starting out in life. These weren’t things that touched a few; they touched all of us, one way or another.
Only one man was downright rude to me as an NDP candidate, several thought I was very brave, but mostly people seemed to resent being torn away from their televisions and being asked to actually do something like think through the issues, then pick up a pencil and leave their mark on a piece of paper.
Many people appeared to be proud of not voting. A fellow canvasser, originally from India, almost had to be restrained from violence. "What do you mean you don’t vote? It’s your democratic duty," she roared.
Other voters had never questioned the Tory record. I remember a woman who answered the door feebly pushing an oxygen tank, who said, "Ralph will take care of me." In light of the premier’s recent pronouncements on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) and the fact that program is currently under review, I have to wonder if she’s feeling so complacent this time out.
Then there was the mother who admitted her children were in classes so large that they got lost in the shuffle, "but it’s like that for everyone," she said. We pointed out that the province then had a surplus of more than $5-billion annually; did she still think it was right her kids were being short-changed at school? "I hadn’t thought of that," she replied.
For the most part, people weren’t interested in an exchange of ideas. It seems as though the notion of dialogue has completely slipped out of Alberta’s culture, from the doorstep to government. We have very little representation of alternative ideas in the legislature; we have, for the most part, a very pussyfooted media, and when they do sharpen their claws, Klein becomes distinctly testy, as though they have accused him of body odour. Gone are the days when the media acted as a kind of political watchdog. We wouldn’t want to hear a choir that had only one voice, so why do we tolerate a monotone in government? Some of the best ideas have begun as opposition platforms. If you have no opposition, where’s the spark? Where are the checks and balances?
This time out, although there is apparently eerily little happening in the campaign, there are signs that the populace is not as enamoured of the chubby boy next door as they once were. But inertia will probably set in once they hit the polling booth and those right-wing muscles will be re-activated as they pick up the pencil. This is particularly dangerous in this election because the conservatives aren’t even doing us the courtesy of revealing their plans. We are expected to give them a blind vote of confidence to do what they will to health care, for example.
One strategy that might shake us all out of our apathy is some form of proportional representation. Last provincial election, the PCs got 61 per cent of the vote, the Liberals, 27 per cent and the New Democrats, eight per cent. But no one knows how people would vote if they felt their ballot really counted and would make a difference in the makeup of the legislature in a substantial way. However, in Alberta proportional representation is probably just a warm and fuzzy fantasy for years to come.
The Tories say they are building Alberta’s future — an empty promise if ever I heard one. I truly hope that all those people I met on the doorstep last year who unquestioningly took as their motto, "In Klein we trust," have recovered from their apathy. We all need to ask the Tories what kind of a future they envision and how they intend to take us there, otherwise we might be in for some very nasty surprises. |
Copyright ©2004 FFWD. All rights reserved.