The timing of this fall’s Ontario election is very suspicious. Only a few days after this Thursday’s vote (Oct. 6) will be the date of Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct. 10). Presumably we will be thankful for our new government.
Did the parties get together and through collusion agree on this date? Forcing us, the unfortunate electorate to be thankful for whatever party we get in power. Will this become some way to champion politicians, when world wide, voters are usually drained by their limited democratic choices? It all feels so contrived and unfortunate.
The timing is actually quite ironic in our first-past-the-post electoral system. With three major parties as well as some Greens and independents to vote for, the usual outcome will be that some party with much less than half of the vote will “win” the election and have more seats than anyone else. Thus, the majority of supporters will lose and Thanksgiving will arrive with the majority being unthankful.
If you think this is all unfair, maybe you’ll want to check out Fair Vote Canada’s site. You might want to get involved and help change these unfortunate circumstances.
But I say if the majority of the electorate is going to end up unthankful this Thanksgiving Day, perhaps we can make the politicians similarly unthankful. That’s right, Ontario, no matter who you elect, make sure they have a minority government.
Indeed, the electorate might have a better sense of timing than our politicians. All the polls say we’re heading there, anyway. Happy Thanksgiving.
