Despite a declining voter turnout, Canadian politics and elections show no signs of slowing down, according to a roundtable panel of professors and experts who spoke about Canada’s electoral climate at Carleton Oct. 7.
“The occurrence of three elections in a little over four years and a fourth seemingly imminent suggests that students of Canadian politics and elections certainly live in interesting times,” Chris Dornan, director of the Arthur Kroeger School of Public Affairs, said.
Along with Dornan, the panel included Carleton professors Jon Pammett, Susan Harada and Chris Waddell, and professor Eric Belanger of McGill University. William Cross represented the Hon. Dick and Ruth Bell Chair for the Study of Canadian Parliamentary Democracy, the organization that sponsored the event.
The electoral climate discussion was arranged in part to celebrate the publication of The Canadian Federal Election of 2008, a new addition to a series that all the speakers had contributed to.
A strong concern brought up by the panel was that of declining voting turnouts, which were on a notable decline.
Dornan explained that the country simply wasn’t interested — a fact that he said could be worrisome.
“Why is there no great appetite to vote? People don’t want an election, because they don’t believe there’s enough at stake to warrant the exercise.” Dornan said.
Just like the United States, Canada too is in an economic crisis, and pensions are threatened. So there should be reasons for anxiety, Dornan said.
“While we should have the same anxiety as the United States, we remain comparatively calm.”
There were varying viewpoints at the panel, including Belanger, who claimed to have an “insider view,” as a Quebecer. He said he knows that the Bloc Quebecois have a stronghold on Quebec, and “always win.” He added that he thinks Quebecers are also relatively disinterested in the federal governance.
“When the outcome is guaranteed, then the people will stay home,” Belanger said.
The youth vote also shows no signs of increasing and Pammett said she suspects nothing much will change.
“It’s not that the youth don’t care, but that they don’t find it relevant. They just don’t see the point.”