May 2000 Fraser Forum: Editor's Notes
Voting is so unsatisfying. We go to the polling station, mind made up (or not), ready to help shape the future of our city, province, or nation. We go full of anticipation, full of pride to be Canadian and take part in this exercise in democracy. But it is all such a let down. All we can do is put an anonymous mark on a pre-printed piece of cheap paper, and then go home.
After four or five years of pent-up worry and annoyance over every issue from high taxes and high spending at every level of government, to federal foreign policy, to provincial environmental regulations, to local recreational facilities planning, we've got something to say. Much to our chagrin, at the bottom of the ballot there are no series of lines that begin: "We value your feedback! Include your comments here. Use other side if you need more room." So much for pleasing your customers. At the very least, we could be given the satisfaction of crossing out the names of everyone we don't want in. But no. The polite little black smudge beside the candidate of our choice is our limit at voting time.
For those of us who do not actively engage in party politics, that black mark (and do colour within the lines, too, if you could) is pretty much the extent of our involvement with the electoral system. In many ways it's easy; we don't even have to participate if we don't want to. But in other ways it is disappointing - particularly when our puny effort doesn't even help elect our preferred candidate.
And once the candidates are selected, are they representing us as well as they should? Are we being governed as well as we could be, or is there room for improvement in our governance system?
This issue of Fraser Forum gives serious thought to these questions. It looks at our first-past-the-post electoral system, at how to get the best people running for office, and at the rising trend of judicial activism.
Reading and pondering these articles may not be as dramatic as sending a letter of protest to your representative, but they will give you another way to think intelligently about Canada's governance system, and what could be done to make it more effective.
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