Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
Is democracy at risk?
When my sons were young, I always took them with me whenever I went to vote in an election.
I would take them behind the cardboard screen where ballots were marked and let them see how I put an X in a circle beside a name. They watched as I refolded the ballot and then came with me as I took my ballot, handed it to the poll clerk and watched it being deposited in the ballot box.
I wanted my sons to learn the correct way to mark a ballot, the correct procedure and why it was important to exercise the right to vote.
In the long time that has passed since those days, however, as regular readers of this column will know, I have come to the conclusion that voting in a provincial or federal election is pretty much an exercise in futility. That's because, even if my preferred candidate wins, when it comes to voting on legislation, he or she will vote as instructed by the party leader, no matter what the collective desire of the constituents in the home riding. In other words, rather than representing the voice of the voters, they represent the voice of the leader. I find it hard to believe that anyone who votes - or seeks office - actually agrees wholeheartedly with every plank in the party's platform.
That said, I have only missed one election in all the years I have been eligible to vote and that was the last provincial election.
But I have decided - (yes, it's flip-flop time again) - that from this point on I will vote in every election. Why? Because it seems there are some people out there who are intent on making sure I do not vote or at least that my vote won't count.
The news comes this week that the company which provided the on-line voting system for the NDP leadership convention is claiming the system was "attacked", resulting in long delays in the voting process. This claim has yet to be proven. Even if it is proven to be true, the likelihood of the culprit(s) being identified is slim to none.
Nevertheless, in the wake of the robocalls scam, the phony calls to Irwin Cotler's riding in Montreal and the "in-and-out" debacle of the 2006 federal election, the disruption of the NDP leadership vote indicates a continuing and worrying trend: an attempt to hijack the democratic right to cast a ballot - or to run an election campaign - unhindered and without intimidation.
It matters not who is responsible for these attempts to subvert the democratic process, and it matters even less whether or not they are successful in their attempts. A person who breaks into your home but takes nothing is just as guilty of a crime as someone who breaks in and steals your valuables. And you feel just as violated.
I find it hard to imagine there is anyone, regardless of their political leaning, who would not be concerned that someone out there is willing to block people's vote by whatever means. To choose not to vote is one thing: to be denied the right to vote is entirely different and something that the majority of you will never experience. I have, however.
Back in the 60s, Pierre Elliot Trudeau took the vote away from immigrants from the United Kingdom who had not yet become Canadian citizens, even though we had had the right for many, many years. To be disenfranchised in that way was devastating. While I agreed with the principle behind the move, I thought there had to be a better way than taking the right to vote away from people who had exercised that right for years. But it did illustrate most clearly that the rights we hold dear are subject to the whims of a few elected officials and can be taken away almost overnight.
Apparently, it's not necessarily just elected officials we have to worry about when it comes to losing rights. There now appear to be unscrupulous individuals and companies that specialize in running campaigns that we have to worry about as well.
Although it will be a few years before we vote again, whether it be federally, provincially or municipally, it seems to me someone, somewhere, should show the leadership to bring an end to this assault on the democratic process with strong penalties for those who engage in such activity.
Tell me, am I wrong?
