Some would say that what we have learned from the sneaky actions of Elections Canada on the weekend is that we cannot trust the organization whose most basic responsibility is to facilitate fair and accessible elections. No matter whose thugs were strong-arming the organization, their attempt at thwarting the vote of campus-dwellers is certainly disheartening to many.
As political pawns in this red-hot riding, it would be easy to opt out of the game altogether. But it would be wrong.
Setting aside this controversy, the question that should be on every Canadian’s mind this week is “What does it mean to be Canadian?” As the four finely-dressed white men squabbled behind their podiums at each debate, scraping at the bottom of each of their barrels to find the right handful of muck with which to shock and discredit their opponents, the real issue that separated the leaders was their respective conceptions of Canadian identity.
What does it mean to be Canadian? To you, it may mean having a publicly funded daycare system. Or, it may mean that you should have the option of a private, non-governmentally funded healthcare clinic. However, whatever minutiae clothe your idea of Canadian identity, there are certain things that cannot be removed from the skeleton of Canadian-ness passed down to us.
To be Canadian it is not only our right or our privilege, but even our duty to vote. If we do not engage this most basic of democratic processes, then we might as well be backpacking nomads without a greater set of values to distinguish us on a national level. To have your say in a decision that will define your national identity until the next election is something thousands of people the world over would literally kill for.
For many campus residents in the Trinity-Spadina riding, the decision to pull the seven student polling stations might seem like a mysterious, authoritarian decision one would expect of a dictatorial South American regime. But, despite the striking front-page image of Monday’s Varsity, these students have not been silenced. They have, indeed, been frustrated. They have been confused. But they did not give into defeat.
In light of these events, we must all take our responsibility to vote all the more seriously. The best way to fight against this inexcusable decision is to march ourselves to the next-closest poll and show Elections Canada that we consider our vote so important that we will go that extra mile to cast it.
Do not let the odds beat you. Do not let the weather, or the longer walk to polling stations truly silence your say in this democratic moment.
Vote on Monday, no matter your riding, no matter your belief. Vote, and claim the Canadian identity that is yours for the taking-and the making-on that little slip of paper.
