Citizen Essentials

I'm not the kind of person to stand here (sit here) preaching to you about what you should do with your democratic right to vote, and to generally get involved with the political affairs of the city, province and nation you live in, but I AM the kind of person to tell you what you'll need to know, and the resources you'll want to have at your side if you DO choose to get involved.

This article will point out, and explain a number of different points that you should understand before engaging in political activities such as voting, lobbying, or even running for political office. Through this article I will also direct you to a number of resources to help you better understand your rights as a Canadian citizen (international readers are encouraged to hunt down their own equivalents of the resources listed here) in the event that you should ever have someone attempt to infringe upon those rights, and folks? Believe me when I say that it happens more often than you likely realize in your everyday life.

Some might call me a shit disturber… Actually some WILL call me a shit disturber, that's an unavoidable fact. However another fact is that I don't go about "shit disturbing" unless there's a reason, and to me? Making sure that the ruling party, whichever that party may be, respects your rights, and isn't permitted to eliminate your rights is a fine and dandy reason by my standards.

Voting – First Past the Post

So there's a dirty little secret in Canadian politics… Okay, more than one, yes, but this one is a legal, traditional and well-engrained part of our system and it needs to go… In my humble opinion of course. This little secret? The electoral system in Canada is broken, at a fundamental level and it ensures that the majority of the population is almost always ignored when it comes to voting, regardless of how many people actually vote.

You see, in the first past the post system, you only get one vote, and if your preferred candidate doesn't win, then you might as well not have voted at all, because an entirely different party will be awarded that seat, and they'll be more likely to serve their own party's interests rather than taking into account the popular vote of the riding in which they were elected. It's a rather unsettling concept when you think about it, and it should be obvious that the system needs to be changed, but in the event that you can't see the problem here, I've created a handy little pie chart to illustrate the main pitfall of the first past the post system:

Imagine that this chart is an accurate representation of the breakdown of all the votes cast in a particular riding. In this particular case, the Conservatives have received 36% of votes cast, with the Liberals in a close second at 34%. Coming in third place in the election are the NDP with 20%, and the Greens bring up the rear with 10% of all the votes cast in the election. Under the first past the post system, the Conservatives have won, and a Conservative party member now represents this entire area, even though 64% of the population did NOT support them.

Does this seem right to you? Should an elected official that fails to represent 64% of their riding be the sole representative of those constituents? Unfortunately this is the system that Canadians have had since before World War I, and as it is the only system that any living Canadian has ever known. It is something that political parties count on, and too few people view as being a problem since so many have simply gotten used to the drawbacks of the system like some sort of weird, electoral Stockholm Syndrome.

The big question that you should be asking yourself here is, "what can I do to change this?" The answer? Get in touch with your representatives, both federal and provincial, and tell them that you're sick of a system that prevents every voter's ballot from truly being equal which leads me to my second point.

Your Representatives - Accessibility and Accountability:

If I asked you, right now, could you tell me who your provincial and federal representatives were? Could you tell me where their offices are? What their email addresses or phone numbers are? Sadly, the average Canadian wouldn't likely be able to name both representatives, much less their contact information. "That's fine" you say? "I can just Google it" you claim? That may be true, but the question here is why you haven't already taken note of this information. Unless you feel that you are being perfectly represented and you couldn't possibly want for anything more than what you're currently getting from your representatives, then you should have already taken the few minutes needed to write a brief email detailing your concerns, and asking your MP or MPP what they're doing to resolve your issues.

I have personally sent out email inquiries and letters of complaint to my federal representative, attempted contact at the provincial level, and contacted representatives in other provinces and ridings based on their less-than-ethical choices. I make no bones about having my complaints heard by the people whose salaries are paid by our tax dollars and neither should you. Again, if life's going along as well as could POSSIBLY be expected, then this whole "getting involved" thing isn't really for you, and hey, congrats on the perfect life but the vast majority of the population? Well, they could probably use a little help and an open ear from their politicians.

So, to help out my friends and neighbours here in the Whitby-Oshawa riding, I'd like you to 'meet' your member of provincial parliament (MPP), with the upcoming by-election to decide the MP for the Whitby-Oshawa riding:

Christine Elliott, MPP (Whitby-Oshawa)

Political Party: Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Email: Christine.elliott@pc.ola.org 
Constituency Office: 114 Dundas Street East, Suite 101. Whitby, Ontario L1N 2H7
Telephone: 905-430-1141

If you have an issue within the scope of the Provincial leading party's power, and you live in the Whitby-Oshawa riding, Christine Elliott is who you need to contact to have it brought to the attention of the provincial parliament. You may also want to contact the party you support if you're not a Conservative voter to let them know what your issues are so that they can tailor their next campaign platform more to your needs.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

This one is a big deal folks, whether you realize it or not. This document guarantees your rights as a Canadian citizen that cannot be infringed without extreme, extenuating circumstances and the Charter cannot be changed without a vote that relies on popular vote totals from across all of the provinces.
I'm not going to write the entire Charter for you here, but you can visit the following link to read and review the Charter in its entirety: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/CH37-4-3-2002E.pdf


I cannot stress enough that you NEED to know your rights as a Canadian citizen. If you do not know your rights, how will you know if a politician or political party is trying to take those rights, and the power that comes with them, away from you? Governments often rely on their citizens not understanding their rights, and the limitations on the government in order to manipulate laws and circumvent the system, which is just fancy talk for saying "governments hope you stay stupid so you're easier to control". The people who are currently in power do not want the system that put them in power to change, in case the new system no longer favours them.

 The Wrap-Up:

That's all I've got for you today folks. I hope you take this information seriously, especially the parts about your Charter rights and the problems inherent with FPTP voting.

Until next time, keep'em honest!

Joshua Taylor - Polit-Tactical Creator and Lead Writer