Monday, May 2nd is your LAST CHANCE to vote in the 41st Federal Election!
Now, I know that not everyone is as involved with what’s been going on, and I’m a big believer in “just in time” information, so here is what you should check out* before voting IN ORDER OF PRIORITY. Go as far down the list as you need to :)
Huh voting? What do I need, where do I go.
Look up your riding HERE: http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/finded.aspx?L=e (Enter Postal Code)
Click on “Where do I vote” in the second paragraph of the right-hand column and it will give you an address. Voting is open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. The voting location might not be a place you have ever heard of, but in a city it’s usually a block or two away! At some community centre or elementary school. Google Map it, baby :)
If you got a Voter Registration card in the mail, you’re all set (just bring photo ID). Otherwise you can register in person on voting day. All you need is:
- PROOF OF ADDRESS (An official-looking piece of mail that has your name and address on it - like a phone bill, utility bill, or pay stub),
- PROOF OF ID (Driver’s Liscence or Passport, or Photo Student ID + Care Card), and
- PROOF of CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP (Passport, Citizenship Card or Birth Certificate).
BRING A BOOK. Lines can be long sometimes. Not always! It’s worth it, I promise.
Even if you’re not registered, the process is usually very fast. (If you’re confused about what type of ID is or is not ok, this list is pretty exhaustive: http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=ids&document=index&lang=e)
More info about voting: http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&lang=e
2. WHO ARE MY CANDIDATES?
Ok so now you know WHERE to vote. Who are the candidates in your riding?
Go to PoliTwitter and enter your postal code: http://politwitter.ca/page/edid_lookup
Click on your Riding Name (in red)
On the RIGHT HAND SIDE, your candidates are listed. Check out their rankings (numbers of followers and fans, etc.).This is NOT a measure of how good they are, but how long they’ve been around, how involved they are with social media, and how hard they’ve been working to get followers. If a candidate has very low scores, it can mean that they are someone the party put in that riding very recently to capture people who will vote for the party no matter who is running. It can also mean that the candidate refuses to get involved in social media. Two candidates with very close scores can mean a close race!
OPEN NEW TABS FOR THE CANDIDATES (Click the twitter photo to open). On these pages you can see this candidate’s most recent tweets and what people have been saying back. This is a good way to get a sense for the person and how people feel about them. I also recommend clicking on the “blog” tab (in the lowest row of bubbles along the top).
It’s pretty important to see what candidates IN YOUR RIDING are saying. Regardless of what is happening on the national scale, you don’t want to elect a crazy person.
3. WHAT ARE THE PARTIES ABOUT?
But what do all these parties mean anyway? Why do we have so many. This is stupid.
If you’ve never actually looked at how your views align with the positions of the federal parties, the CBC Vote Compass is an ok tool. It’s a quiz!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/votecompass/
Everyone I know who has tested with it agrees with the results - but this is NOT necessarily who you should vote for. LOCAL CANDIDATES make a big difference. Also pay attention to the SITUATION IN YOUR RIDING:
4. WHAT’S GOING ON IN MY RIDING?
EVERY RIDING IS A SEAT. The party with the MOST seats has the power in parliament, and the leader of that party usually becomes the prime minister. More seats == more power.
Many people will vote with their conscience, regardless of the situation in their riding. This is ok! As long as you are voting I am proud of you.
Some people choose to vote STRATEGICALLY. This means that if the race in your riding is close, you can vote for your second-preference candidate because they have a better chance at beating a candidate you REALLY dislike. People do this because we have so many parties with overlapping views - and because EVERY SEAT MATTERS. One seat can make the difference between a majority or a minority parliament, and that difference is HUGE.
Check out PROJECT DEMOCRACY.CA http://www.projectdemocracy.ca/ and enter your postal code.
It will show you the situation in your riding and a recommendation of who to vote for if you want to defeat the conservatives. (it’s important to know that this is what this site is about, but it’s a useful site regardless.)
SWING33 is another site that is watching contests where the race is VERY close - every vote really counts in these ridings!
If your riding is a swing riding, but voting for another candidate makes you kind of ill (OR if your riding is a stronghold of one candidate and your contrary vote may not make as much of an impact) you can consider VOTE SWAPPING. http://www.votepair.ca/ If you use this site you “trade” votes with someone in another riding. You vote for the party THEY want, and they vote for the party YOU want. If you’re both in key ridings, it can make a difference on how many seats a party gets. Not everyone agrees with vote swapping, but it’s an option.
5. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT PARTIES PROMISING?
OK so the first 4 are probably the MOST important things you need to know in order to vote. If you’re still reading, good for you! I know Canadian Politics can be boring. The next bullets get into the nitty gritty of the platforms.
Politwitter has been tracking ELECTION PROMISES: http://politwitter.ca/page/election_promises
If the candidate is elected, they consider it an order to make these promises law. On Politwitter you can see a list of the promises and which are the most or the least popular. They are ranked by how often they are retweeted.
There’s also this list of Election Issues: http://politwitter.ca/page/election_issues (or “buzzowords”) - what have people been talking about? What are the hot-button issues? Click on any issue to see what people are tweeting about it.
6. LEADERSHIP DEBATES
The debate was awhile ago, but you can watch the whole thing online for free right here!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/leaders-debate/
It’s long. I found it interesting, but if you don’t you can jump to key sections using the “recap” guide below.
The CBC then fact-checked the debate:http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/realitycheck/2011/04/fact-checking-the-leaders-debate.html
Other places have also fact-checked, you can search “Canada election 2011 debate fact check” it to find alternative sources.
They had a second debate in French: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/04/13/cv-election-french-language-debate.html
I always find the French debate interesting because they cover different issues and most of the leaders can’t dance as well with their words in French ;)
Voila le débat en Français sans translation: http://elections.radio-canada.ca/elections/federales2011/le_debat/index.shtml
7. THE PARTY PLATFORMS
Last but not least, you can check out the party platforms. (Platform: collection of promises and an outline of ‘how they would run the government’ if elected.) It’s still important and useful to get information ‘from the horse’s mouth’, as it were. (Presented here in ALPHABETICAL order)
Conservative Platform: http://www.conservative.ca/policy/platform_2011/
Green Platform: http://greenparty.ca/platform2011
Liberal Platform: http://www.liberal.ca/platform/
NDP Platform: http://www.ndp.ca/platform
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Of course this list is not exhaustive. There are thousands of splinter groups with their own agendas. You can watch hours of coverage by browsing any major Canadian news site (just look for an “election” link). You can search “Canada election 2011 [insert keyword]” to find more info about the particular issues you care most about. The newspapers will have lots of articles and special info sections running up to the election. Search “Canada election 2011” on Youtube. Talk about it with your friends. It’s impossible to know everything, just do your best, ok?
Remember:
* These are sources that I like, I chose them because I find them clear and useful. Full disclosure: my husband created and runs Politwitter.ca. I gain nothing by having you use the site, but I really believe it is useful. Trevor works very hard on it and it’s entirely source-data-driven.
**every news source is biased one way or the other** - take EVERYTHING you read with a grain of salt. It’s possible to dig up mud on any candidate. Attack ads usually blow a grain of truth out of proportion. Everything is spun. Everything. I tried my best to be balanced here, but even I’m biased ;) I’m just one person.
** Nobody has fully accurate polls ** - Young voters who don’t have mortgages and land lines generally aren’t included in polling. If young people surprise everyone by going out and voting it can make a HUGE impact.
** Be nice to the election volunteers ** :) They are usually nice people! Usually.
SO GET OUT THERE AND VOTE, CANADA!
When I was a kid, “comics” were newspaper comics. I drew comics about my cat because of Garfield. I read a LOT of Asterix (as much as I could get my grubby paws on), but for some reason it never clicked with me as something I could draw…. they were so beautiful that it seemed unobtainable. I read Archie comics when I got older, but even then it was frivolous to me… the stories were always the same- it wasn’t something I wanted to draw. NONE of my friends read superhero comics (not even my guy friends that I remember) so I was never REMOTELY interested in that. 
