Elections should be about Issues, not Charisma, Rhetoric, and Slogans.
Recent elections in Canada and many other countries seem to be more about the popularity of one leader over another. Somehow, in a world of 10-second sound bites and pundits spouting off, the conversation about issues seems to have been sidetracked, and collectively, we need to get the focus of elections back on track.
Good governance is more than just one person, and many issues need to be highlighted. Voting should be more than just deciding that you don’t like how one person sounds or always voting for one party or person. Voting should be about who represents your views on what is important to you and your community. What follows are the issues I would like, as well as many people in my community would like answers to before we cast our ballots. Voting isn’t a privilege; it is a right and a responsibility; we owe it to each other to ask questions and to critically think before we vote.
We have substantial and widespread poverty issues. Food insecurity is a symptom of poverty. Tonight, in every community, there is a growing number of people experiencing homelessness, men, women, children, seniors, and families who cannot afford to live here. People living on Disability Support Plans are living with inadequate income. People on Ontario Works (welfare) cannot live on what the government provides. We need something better, some kind of guaranteed income that is indexed to inflation. Additionally, we need to change the all-too-common mindset that people getting assistance are somehow lazy or trying to take advantage of the system and make getting assistance quicker and easier to access.
We have a growing multi-generational poverty issue. Multi-generational poverty has always been an issue, but with each passing generation, there are more and more people who are or who have lost hope of ever escaping this reality. This issue and solutions must be addressed.
We have a growing erosion of democracy issue (1) – During and after the pandemic, too many governments seemed to abandon our legislatures, and more and more announcements are made at press conferences instead of where elected politicians are supposed to be available for debate. Most legislative bodies only sit for a fraction of the time they are supposed to, this reality is focusing and concentrating power in the hands of fewer and fewer people.
We have a substantial shortage of safe and affordable housing across every community. We cannot rely on the private sector to be responsible for building and maintaining housing. We need mixed-density, inclusive housing, and we needed it yesterday. Rental housing is more expensive than owning a house; the wait list for emergency housing is measured in years, not days. Every voter is affected, and every politician should have answers and a plan for you.
We don’t have enough doctors or a pipeline for doctors. Several million Canadians do not have a family doctor. The reasons range from too few doctors being accepted into medical schools because of excessively high entrance marks to too few spares to competition from conservative governments allowing multiple tiers of private and public options. People are suffering, people are dying, and more people will die unless this issue is resolved.
We have a debt issue that isn’t just about gutting programs. Costs increase; tax cuts are not the answer. Responsible government is. Smart choices need to be made; recently the Ontario Government announced a $200 cheque for every single Ontarioian that just coincided with plans for an election. The total cost was three billion dollars; how many doctors would that have paid for, how many new apartment buildings, and how many front-line charities would have benefitted; this was not a smart choice.
We have a drug issue. If we listen to the science and the facts, we need to deal with this issue as a health issue and not as a criminal one. We need to treat all drugs like we do the most dangerous ones. Alcohol is decriminalized, regulated, taxed, and de-stigmatized and we need to know which parties and leaders will take the right action, not just more of what hasn’t worked in the past.
We have a climate issue. The world’s climate is changing NOW and we changed it. Non-renewable energy sources are a significant cause, and automobiles and pollution are major factors, “axing the carbon tax” without another plan to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint is attractive to voters but will only make our situation worse.
We have a clean water and sewage issue. Only a fraction of the world’s water supply can be drunk by humans, and every time we have significant rainfall our sewage treatment plants overflow, and we pollute even more of it. Which parties are prepared to safeguard our water?
We have serious income divergence issues. In what world should the CEO be making more than 50x what the rank-and-file workers do. The argument that they need to attract “top talent” is false and perpetuated by the people benefiting from those salaries.
Some spending priorities will never be profitable but still have value. Funding of roads, hospitals, public transit, schools, colleges and universities, and public broadcasting are services for our people and need to be funded properly.
We have a democracy issue (2). Individual politicians do not have enough free votes where they can vote their conscious or as their constituents desire.
We have a democracy issue (3). Too many people subscribe to the “Myth of a strong leader;” governments of all levels are more than just one person. Media tries to simplify leadership down to one person when in fact leadership of federal governments involves hundreds or thousands of leaders. As a result, not enough people look at issues and policies.
We have a democracy issue (4). Some populist leaders, like in Ontario, abuse and undermine democracy but circumvent rights by introducing “strong mayor powers,” and boasting about cutting “red tape” when the red tape exists to serve as a check and balance for the system.
We have a democracy issue (5). Use of one person’s “Executive orders” or constitutional “Not-withstanding causes” are abuses of power and dangerously undermine our democracies and civil rights.
We have an issue with politicians who see environmental protection laws as “red tape.” We have one planet, and we have put laws and procedures in place for reasons that transcend developers’ interests.
We have major league diversity, inclusiveness, and equity issues. We have issues with systematic racism in our countries and communities that require our immediate and ongoing attention. We have made commitments that have not been met, and we need to hold governments accountable.
We have an ignorance issue. As a society, whether through lack of perspective, education, or through setting an example many people’s view of the world is not representative of the reality of most of the people on this planet. We need to address our consumption of resources, our views on immigration, and our views on equity for everyone, regardless of where they live.
We have an issue with “fake” news. With the rise of social media and the weakening of traditional media, people’s trust in the accuracy of the news that is reported is threatened and AI and the ability of bad actors to literally rewrite events is a major problem.
We have to address our confirmation bias issues. Due to the ease at which some bad actors lie and misrepresent the facts, we are now having to struggle with people who do not recognize the truth and facts despite how overwhelming the evidence is that they are wrong.
We have internal territorialism issues. Due to some politicians protecting their “area of responsibility,” sometimes the larger national issues suffer because of their limited focus. For example, the Alberta premier undermined the federal approach to combating the threat of tariffs from the United States.
We have issues believing everyone is as nice as we are. Diplomacy and collaboration must be backed by a strong collective defense and the willingness to stand up for what we believe. We have to live up to our commitments and hold others accountable as well.
We have issues with apathy when it comes to participation and voting. We need everyone to vote. We need everyone to learn the issues and decide who is your best candidate and party. Vote, and bring someone with you who didn’t vote last time.
What is the Trump Trap; it is allowing ourselves to vote based on personality and simplistic rhetoric and slogans rather than real substance. As societies, we are fortunate to have as many natural and earned resources as we do; however, to safeguard those same societies, we must do more than stand on the sidelines we have to decide what we think is important, ask questions, challenge for better answers and solutions, and make sure we vote for the best person, party, and encourage more of our people to do the same.
Good luck,
Paul
Excellent Paul!