It doesn’t really matter at this point how anyone feels about the federal election. It’s happening anyway Sept. 20, whether we like it or not.
If you’re keeping score at home, this is the fourth election in four years among the municipal, provincial and federal levels. There will be another one in October of 2022 to elect North Cowichan council members and Cowichan Valley Regional District representatives to make it five-for-five.
People are admittedly growing tired of elections. That’s why they’re all only supposed to be held every four years, but everyone keeps jumping the gun.
John Horgan did it in 2020 despite the pandemic to gain a majority for the B.C. NDP. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau is pulling off the same tactic to try and achieve a majority, again amid a pandemic, by calling the federal vote two years early.
The only difference is the plan could easily backfire on Trudeau and his political future is at stake. It doesn’t appear from early polling that he’ll achieve his majority and he might not even be returned as prime minister, for that matter.
If there’s not a clear mandate for the Liberals or Conservatives, which seems unlikely, that will bring the whole purpose of this election into serious question. Winding up right back where we started is not a desired outcome.
Regardless, exercising our vote is a necessity. We have no control over when elections are called, but it’s up to us to determine our Members of Parliament by making our selections among the candidates.
This year is already proving to be a lot different, not only because of the pandemic. More people have utilized the advance polls and there’s also the mail-in ballot option that had to be finalized by Sept. 14.
All that means is the final totals for some ridings might not be known on election night and, with a close vote expected between the top two parties to determine who will be the prime minister, we might have to wait longer before there’s a definitive result.
We don’t expect it’ll be anything like the United States, thankfully, where they’re still talking about a tainted election many months later. Whatever the results are, they will stand because our democratic process works.