It’s always incumbent on editors like myself just before an election to send out the imperative message for voters to make sure they exercise their democratic right and cast their ballot.
So I’m doing that now for the Saturday, Oct. 20 vote in this region to determine the Municipality of North Cowichan’s mayor and councillors or Area G (Saltair/Gulf Islands) director for the Cowichan Valley Regional District, depending where you live, and School District 79 trustees.
But will any message I present along those lines fall on deaf ears? History proves it usually does.
Despite a massive crowd at the Chemainus Secondary School gymnasium Oct. 9, it’s unlikely that’s going to translate into a stampede at the polls.
The sad fact is the voter turnout is usually in the 30 per cent range which is unbelievably low when you think about it. That’s only three out of every 10 people deciding to make a choice on who will represent them in so much business that affects their personal lives, not to mention their pocketbooks.
The reason for public apathy about the civic elections is hard to fathom. Why don’t people take the brief amount of time it takes to educate themselves about what’s going on and then select the candidates that will best fulfill their interests?
I ran into my good friend Brittany Pickard-Brown the other day and she brought up a very good point. Much of the appalling voter numbers can be attributed to the younger population.
There were hordes of people in their 50s, 60s and 70s at the Chemainus meeting. But very few were younger than 50.
Somehow, the teen, 20, 30 and 40-somethings don’t seem to have the time or the inclination in their busy lives to think there’s any point in voting because their opinions won’t really matter in the final analysis.
That’s where they’re wrong. Any overabundance to the three in 10 ratio of those who don’t usually vote could make a huge difference in the outcome.
Pickard-Brown is one of those young people who’s involved in just about everything she can do. She works fulltime, volunteers for many causes and is extremely active with community groups.
It’s rewarding for her and because she’s such a busy person, Pickard-Brown sees the need for the younger segment of the population to make their voices heard.
Somehow this myth that elections don’t affect younger people needs to be shattered. It affects them more than ever because decisions made today are going to have ramifications well into the future.
We’re in a very difficult time with economic, housing and environmental issues in serious need of being addressed. Some younger candidates with new insights might even be nice to have sometime.
There are plenty of choices to be made in North Cowichan, with three in the mayor’s race and 14 up for the six councillor positions. If special interest groups are successful at getting their supporters out to vote and the general public shows continued apathy, that could sway the results and the direction of council considerably.
That’s not to say there aren’t some great candidates among those running with particular causes in mind, but we do need a balance on council to make it work effectively.
Incumbent mayor Jon Lefebure is trying to retain his post, with opposition from councillors Al Siebring and Joyce Behnsen who’ve decided to take a shot at the top job. Lefebure and Siebring both live in Chemainus and have their followers, but Behnsen has made inroads in Chemainus and Crofton with her continued presence and not just focusing on the part of the municipality closer to Duncan.
It’s indeed going to be interesting to see who comes out on top. Chemainus and Crofton opinions traditionally count for a great deal and could put any one of the candidates into the driver’s seat.
The councillor contenders represent a wide range of interests and only two of the previous councillors - Kate Marsh and Rob Douglas - are seeking re-election. That means four newcomers are going to become council members and we need to consider carefully who they will be.
This election has everything in place to capture the imagination of the public and generate a strong voter turnout.
But we’ve been fooled before under similar circumstances. Maybe I could be proven wrong this time about the response.
(Don Bodger is the editor of the Chemainus Valley Courier).