On November 22, we rule There is less than a week left before the provincial election on Monday, November 22. I know people are tired of elections and politics. We have just finished a municipal election in October and a very demoralizing (no matter what party you supported) federal election in June. And, over the past couple of months our media has extensively covered the U.S. presidential election. Now we will be electing a new provincial government and four Senators-elect. (I won’t deal much with the Senate election except to say that if you believe in electing Senators, as opposed to our current system in which the Prime Minister appoints all the members of the Senate, it is imperative that you vote. A strong turnout in the Senate election will send a message to Prime Minister Martin. For information on the Senate election candidates go to http://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/welcome.html. This will give you a list of candidates and links to their websites.) Election burnout works to the advantage of the provincial government and Premier Klein who called the election. The premier has made it clear that he does not want to talk about issues during the election. The media has repeatedly characterized the election as a “snoozer” in which voters are not paying attention. That might be true and if it is, it is a shame. Election day is one of the few times that citizens can actually have an effect on the direction of society. We have the power to step up and decide who is going to be in charge of making the decisions about how we will be governed. Many people like to say, “It doesn’t matter how I vote the Tories will be re-elected.” Or, “My one vote doesn’t matter at all.” This is simply not true. In both the federal and municipal election, we saw some very close races in which literally several votes could have changed the outcome. In my municipality, one candidate lost by three votes. I’m going to assume that most people reading this column will vote. But have you, I wonder, informed yourself and others around you, about the candidates running in your constituency? Do you make assumptions about where the candidates for different parties stand on issues? Are you basing your vote on what the party has told you their issues are or are you proactively asking them about the issues that matter to you? It’s a bit late to wait until after the election to find out that your candidate supports abortion on demand or tax-funded abortion. Alberta Pro-Life, along with several other groups that make up the Family Life Committee, have put together a survey of nine questions on pro-life, pro-family issues. We’ve sent the survey to all candidates running in this election. About one-quarter of the candidates have replied so far and their responses are posted at our website www.albertaelection.org. You can look at or download you own constituency to see who is running, whether they’ve responded and how they answered the questions. Do not assume that because someone is running for the Conservative Party, for example, that they support party policy of forcing taxpayers to pay for all abortions. So far, 14 of 24 who have responded support de-insuring. Similarly, don’t assume, as many do, that all Alberta Alliance and Social Credit candidates support de-insuring. In our survey, some do not. And, we even have a few Liberals who support de-insuring. Similarly, on the question of informed consent for abortion, there is substantial agreement from Conservatives, Liberals, Alliance and Socreds that women should be fully informed before they choose abortion. 80% of the 96 candidates who responded say they support this initiative. Three-quarters of them also support protecting the traditional definition of marriage using the notwithstanding clause. So, if you haven’t already checked, go to the website and see how your candidates stack up. If they haven’t responded, please phone them and ask them to fill out the survey and fax it back. It is one thing for a candidate to tell you privately on the phone or at the doorstep that they support something, say de-insuring abortions. But, if they won’t admit it publicly in a survey like ours, I would question the depth of commitment. Will they stand up to the party leader if their privately expressed opinion is different from his view? One other thing, even if you have checked out our website and made your decision, could you help get the word out about the site to your friends, neighbours and fellow church goers? Even people who aren’t necessarily on side with all of our issues, will find the survey and responses interesting. For example, on the question of a freeze on gambling in the province, the New Democratic Party agrees with our position. Many of the government members do not. We’d like to get hundreds of people to www.albertaelection.org and we need your help to do that. We will update the site as responses come in right up to this weekend. You can easily print off constituency results and distribute them to friends and family who don’t have computers or are not on the Internet. Take some copies to your church this weekend or print off the bulletin announcement from the website and take it to your church for inclusion in your bulletin. Announce it at church. Let people know at your local school. (They survey includes two questions about education.) Elections belong to voters. We should be setting the agenda for the politicians. They like to talk about the issues that matter to them and that’s fair enough. But it doesn’t mean we can’t ask and expect clear answers on the issues that matter to us. Honestly, this is the only time when our word is the law. All the round table discussions, public surveys, focus groups and polling cannot replace the power of the ballot. “Input” from ordinary Albertans (whoever they are) falls far short of voting. Between elections our views might be solicited but the politicians get to decide whose views matter. Next Monday the politicians have no say. It is entirely up to us. Let’s make sure we don’t squander the opportunity.
|
