You people suck at democracy.
| RIDING | TURNOUT % |
| Fort McMurray–Athabasca | 41.4 |
| Bonavista–Gander–Grand Falls–Windsor | 44.5 |
| Churchill | 45.0 |
| Random–Burin–St. George’s | 45.6 |
| Calgary East | 46.2 |
| Calgary Northeast | 48.1 |
| York West | 48.2 |
| Nunavut | 48.5 |
| Winnipeg Centre | 48.6 |
| Windsor West | 48.8 |
| Peace River | 49.6 |
| Winnipeg North | 50.2 |
| Edmonton East | 50.3 |
| Saint-Léonard–Saint-Michel | 50.6 |
| Humber–St. Barbe–Baie Verte | 50.7 |
| Richmond | 51.0 |
| Manicouagan | 51.3 |
| Saint-Laurent–Cartierville | 52.0 |
| Labrador | 52.1 |
| Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River | 52.2 |
This is kind of sad. I’m assuming the ones who don’t vote will be the ones who complain the most about the results.
I believe you will find a large population of Canadians who are simply not engaged in politics. Apathy as a result of lack of inspiration politically and sense of futility in our voting system. These are the people who simply nod their heads in agreement with what ever someone says politically and avoid political discussions.
Those who complain are usually the most passionate and likely to vote.
my riding is number two, there’s FOUR out of seven NL ridings on that list…and Fort Mac which might as well be! what the hell Newfoundland and Labrador? apparently we all suck at democracy…but to be fair we only elected one Conservative so…do we get points for that at least?
“You people suck at democracy.”
Just to be clear… it’s my right not to vote, and I even get to complain about the results afterwards.
We have very few ways to show the government how little we like or trust them. Elections Canada does not count spoiled ballots — they are counted, but put in the same pile as those spoiled by mistake, then those numbers are not released.
So not voting in this country can be a more recognizable form of disobedience than writing “this fucking sucks” all over your ballot. At least the reaction to the “I’m not voting” result gets people writing blog posts, like this one. How many blog posts or articles get written about the number of spoiled or discounted ballots?
Not voting simply says, “I don’t care”
Voting for the, insert random niche party here >> “transcendental” <<, party would be a louder form of "disobedience"
Of course it is your right to not care, no one can argue that point.
Gee, thanks Mars, for choosing not to start an argument while, at the same time, defining the choice thousands of Canadians made on election day as being made solely out of apathy.
Voting for a fringe party or spoiling your ballot are important protest tools. They just don’t matter as much as not voting. If we combine the vote totals of the fringe elite we can’t go through them to determine which ones are legit, and which voters hated all the other choices and want better options.
And it’s highly unlikely the major parties are going to change their policies so they can pick up the people protesting by voting for the CPC-ML. But they might (and frequently do) throw out a few policies to entice more people (women) off the “do not vote” list.
Anyway. Thanks to the Charter we all have the right not to vote, as well as the rights to; vote while being ignorant, or completely understanding of all the issues; vote blindly for the same party over and over again; vote based on the same repetitive partisan gamesmanship we hear every election cycle; vote for a candidate who never lived in your riding and who spent the election gambling, and; we even get to vote after smoking some decent-quality hash. Thankfully.
Thank you Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It’s an interesting argument, and yes, I am not adverse to discussion. There is a great discrepancy between how you may feel your “not voting” voices your message, and the social perception of not voting is received.
Usually when someone does not participate in a public activity it is either because they are unable to, or because they do not care to participate.
Choosing not to vote is everyone’s right, I do not think anyone is arguing that.
It is also a strategy amongst certain Parties to “encourage” voter apathy and “not voting” to help them at the polls.