Election is Upon Us...

I know what you are thinking. The new season of American Idol is addicting. The only problem is that the fate of my favorite (Angie) is left solely up to American fans. Fortunately, there is an election coming up in British Columbia. It’s our turn to vote!

                  Voting is a human right, embedded into the UN International Bill of Rights. In human rights terms, voting and the right to run in an election, is called “suffrage”; to be given the right to vote is called “enfranchisement”.

I believe voting is the most important thing we can do. It gives us a connection to our community, our government and the decisions that affect our lives. My mother’s philosophy is: “if you don’t vote you can’t complain”. Trust me, in my house, we take advantage of this.

The opportunity to vote also represents the privilege of Canadian citizenship. All over the world, particularly in the Middle East, people are dying for suffrage. The Arab Spring started with a local street vendor. Mr. Bouazizi was so frustrated with the corruption of democracy in Tunisia that he set himself on fire in December 2010. Revolution spread across Tunisia, eventually extending to countries like Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. For these countries, violent revolution against an oppressive government is their only solution. In Canada, democracy is our privilege. However, it wasn’t always this way for everyone.

                  Women in Canada fought very hard for enfranchisement with the Suffragette Movement. BC women were especially faced with challenges. They began applying for the vote in 1902, facing defeat 5 times, including in 1908 when female house owners had their suffrage taken away. Finally in 1917, BC women were enfranchised.

However, in the 1920s it became apparent that the fight was not over. When Emily Murphy submitted her nomination for Senate, she was refused.  She discovered that women were not considered “persons” in Canadian law. Thus ensued the Persons Case, which resulted (after way too many appeals) in women being considered “persons” in 1929. To put this in perspective, my grandmother was 10 years old before she became a “person”.

In my opinion, every person must vote, especially women. Not just because our fore-mothers have fought so hard for suffrage, but also because only 21% of our BC Legislature is female. Furthermore, so many issues affect women in ways that they do not affect men.

Yet too many people do not vote, in fact only half of eligible voters did in the last BC election. Maybe it’s because they don’t think politics are important. I think that when politicians talk to us in language we can’t understand and when our government buildings are so far away, it is difficult to see how political our lives are. Whether you are a student, working, injured or sick, drive a car, own or rent a house, are married, or drink wine, politics plays a major role.

Or maybe they don’t have time to research each party to effectively educate themselves. I believe that voting is important, but I believe in informed voting. How can you truly pick a favorite on American Idol if you have never heard any of them sing? You could choose who your friends might like or pick the best looking one. However, you might not buy their record, let alone want to listen to them for the next four years. Informed decisions are more important when your money and time are invested.

Here is FairJAKE’s time-saving solution: over the next couple weeks there will be a series of articles on the Provincial Election. I will explore the political system and the parties (as unbiasedly as possible) in order to make the process a little less confusing. It’ll be like American Idol... but with less singing (no promises though) and a better looking host. Stay tuned… This is BC Pol-IDOL!