3d ago

The biggest threat in the Ontario election isn’t Donald Trump, it’s voter disengagement

theconversation.com The biggest threat in the Ontario election isn’t Donald Trump, it’s voter disengagement

Three years ago, Ontario’s Doug Ford won an overwhelming majority government on the basis of the ballots of less than 18 per cent of the province’s eligible voters. Are voters still disengaged?

Author: Mark Winfield, Professor, Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Canada

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has justified his early election call on the need to respond to United States President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports.
While the threat of tariffs on all Canadian imports has been paused — although Trump has since slapped levies on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. — Ontario voters need to reflect more than ever on the province’s circumstances and the performance of its government as they prepare to head to the polls next week.
The Ford government’s approach to the environment and climate change, as well as its policies on a range of other issues like housing, health care and education, is best understood in the context of its overall “market populist” approach to governance.
Several defining features of this model have emerged over the past six and a half years under Ford’s rule.

21 comments

This is also true for federal, Liberals really need to figure out their new prime minister selection and fast. Like let's face it they are the only party rn that has a chance in beating the conservatives. The longer they spend without a public face advocating for a change the less voter turnout there will be. As for Ontario Bonnie Crombie or Marit Stiles needs to do like a press junket or something that way people that are not that tuned in to the election cycle will actually remember they have another option other then Ford.

The one thing I do is vote. Even if I don’t like the candidates, which this go around, I really don’t, it’s a right that many people fought and died for and billions of people don’t have the right to.
Is it ideal? No. Not when politicians are just trust fund babies or career politicians.
However, I do feel that voting and as of late strategic voting is important.
Wynne sucked so we voted in Ford. Well, he’s even worse. The premier of the province who secretly just wants to be mayor of Toronto.
I’d like to see ford gone. It’s not going to happen, so the best we can hope for is a government more represented with less power.
Fords running on a zero sum platform except for Trump bad. The other platforms aren’t much better.
The other issue is snap elections don’t allow for any party to actually get their facts out. They shouldn’t be allowed as they’re just power grabs similar to the last provincial and federal elections. It shouldn’t be allowed.
I’d also really love a politician to have the bls to change the voting system. First past the post is a sham.

Honestly I don’t feel particularly inspired to vote for any candidate this election.
I’m leaning towards NDP, but the LPC are beating them and with the vote split my riding is leaning conservative.
I don’t like Crombie’s campaign at all. It’s all attack little substance, and frankly they do need a costed platform.
This morning on the radio she said the conservatives don’t have one either and that’s so not the point and pathetic to me.
As if “we won’t go beyond the already low bar” is who I want in power over my health and the education of my family. That’s just asinine.
- Do vote. Parties get funding related to the number of votes they get, so it's at least a little bit helpful for the future.
  
  I always vote, I’m not attached to any party, so they’ve made things difficult for me this time.
- Crombie met with Ford privately, he agreed to break up Peel and she agreed to run for the Liberal party leader
  She promised to be just like him up until he went back on his plan to break up Peel
  Why anyone would vote for her is beyond me

I told my partner last week, "I predict the lowest ever voter turnout, and a larger PC majority." It's like the worse things get, the less people fight it.
- Because people are driven to believe, by the real results, that voting isn't nearly as impactful as advertised.
  
  Whether or not what you are saying is literally true about the value of voting, you are certainly expressing the very feelings that our disenfranchised and disengaged electorate feel. But it's self-fulfilling. PC voters don't feel that way. They never feel that way, even when they are certain to lose. I think that says something about why things go to shit so badly, so quickly.
  Voting is literally the least you can do to have political influence in a democracy. In a lot of ways, it exists to alienate people from power by subtly discouraging them from seeking more direct and meaningful forms of political action. But it's also vital.

Truth. Learn from us. If a 3rd of the county didn't sit at home things could have been different.
- Both two and a half parties at all levels of Canadian government serve only to protect and promote businesses. The liberals will support their business interests, the conservatives will support their own. Neither will measurably improve day to day life of Canadians, both will make it less tolerable, just in different ways.
  A kid on a roof almost made more of a difference than every vote cast in the US.
  edit: a word
  
  Go ahead and give up your voice in your presently at least nominally democratic society then.
- We will be lucky if a third even vote. Progressives are wimps.

Consider maybe possibly potentially... trying to engage the voters?
- But we tried lying to them on TV AND online, what else can a politician do?

21 comments