2008 Canadian Federal Election Thread

[Robbie]

If you go back to the 60s and 70s I am pretty sure the voting numbers were higher.

Yeah, and it's been decreasing since, with the exception in 1988.

1962 - 79.0%
1968 - 76.0%
1972 - 76.7&
1980 - 69.3%
1988 - 76.8%
1993 - 70.9%

[Lions4ever]

I actually don't plan on voting for any of the listed candidates because none of their names will be on my ballot. I don't live in any of their ridings.

But I implore the 11 people who have not voted Reform, er, "Conservative" to please remember to vote strategically. I am not an NDP supporter but will be voting NDP as it is the NDP candidate in my riding who has the best chance against the Bush Puppet Government, er, "Conservative" candidate.

[sj-roc]

If you intend to vote in this election, be sure to bring along the proper identification because the rules on who gets a ballot have stiffened since the last federal election. Voters in the Vancouver Quadra byelection earlier this year will probably already be aware of this, but that card you received in the mail — the one with the address of your polling station — is not, repeat NOT sufficient documentation to get you a ballot. It only means that the person identified on it is registered on the voters' list. You will still have to prove that you are the person on that card and that the address matches. If there are mistakes on the card (name misspelled or such), you should have already notified Elections Canada, otherwise you could experience some inconvenience at the polls.

As for IDs, EC circulated an official brochure in the mail over the last few weeks outlining what constitutes acceptable identification (I myself received TWO copies of it, about three weeks apart). Do yourself a favour: read it and avoid polling day disappointments. Believe me, I was a poll clerk in the Quadra byelection and had to turn away several would-be voters. If you still have doubts, call EC toll-free at 1-800-463-6868.

If you forget to bring your ID with you, you may still be able to vote if you have someone who can vouch for you. This involves each of you taking an oath and some extra paperwork. However, this person has to be

(a) someone with sufficient ID who is eligible to vote in your poll (that means not only are they voting at the same polling station, which may contain several ballot boxes — one for each poll, but they also have to be casting their vote in the SAME ballot box),

(b) someone who has not already vouched for someone else (cannot vouch for more than one other voter under any circumstances; the restrictions in (a) make this rule easier to enforce),

and

(c) someone who has not been vouched for by another voter (a vouchee cannot be a subsequent voucher in the same election).

So for you absent-minded husbands out there, I would recommend having your wife accompany you to the polls. :lol:

[Robbie]

If you intend to vote in this election, be sure to bring along the proper identification because the rules on who gets a ballot have stiffened since the last federal election. Voters in the Vancouver Quadra byelection earlier this year will probably already be aware of this, but that card you received in the mail — the one with the address of your polling station — is not, repeat NOT sufficient documentation to get you a ballot. It only means that the person identified on it is registered on the voters' list. You will still have to prove that you are the person on that card and that the address matches. If there are mistakes on the card (name misspelled or such), you should have already notified Elections Canada, otherwise you could experience some inconvenience at the polls.

As for IDs, EC circulated an official brochure in the mail over the last few weeks outlining what constitutes acceptable identification (I myself received TWO copies of it, about three weeks apart). Do yourself a favour: read it and avoid polling day disappointments. Believe me, I was a poll clerk in the Quadra byelection and had to turn away several would-be voters. If you still have doubts, call EC toll-free at 1-800-463-6868.

If you forget to bring your ID with you, you may still be able to vote if you have someone who can vouch for you. This involves each of you taking an oath and some extra paperwork. However, this person has to be

(a) someone with sufficient ID who is eligible to vote in your poll (that means not only are they voting at the same polling station, which may contain several ballot boxes — one for each poll, but they also have to be casting their vote in the SAME ballot box),

(b) someone who has not already vouched for someone else (cannot vouch for more than one other voter under any circumstances; the restrictions in (a) make this rule easier to enforce),

and

(c) someone who has not been vouched for by another voter (a vouchee cannot be a subsequent voucher in the same election).

So for you absent-minded husbands out there, I would recommend having your wife accompany you to the polls. :lol:

Thanks for the notice, sj-roc.

With the Canadian federal election voter turnout already low as it is historically, it's good to hear that we don't get turned away from voting just because of ID issues.

[Robbie]

I suppose the main reason why the Canadian Federal Election isn't very dramatic compared to America's is because it's very predictable and there isn't too much in the way of surprises. As expected, the incumbent Conservative won and increased their lead with additional 19 seats for 143 seats but it is still a minority while the Liberals are still the official opposition although they lost 27 seats resulting in 76. The Bloc Quebecois was mostly unchanged at 50 and the NDP gained slightly more seats at 37, while the Green party still failed to get a single seat.

What was also predictable and expected, albeit extremely disappointing, was the fact that the voter turnout was at an all time low at a pitiful 59.1%. :no: :x

[Toppy Vann]

Despite Robbie posting about voter turnout, the percentage of voters voting went down again. Lower the voting age and let 16 year olds vote! What's interesting is that Alberta where mostly Tories win only 52% voted, the second lowest in Canada!

Election 2008 sees lowest voter turnout in Canadian history
Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, October 15, 2008

OTTAWA - Nearly 10 million eligible voters took a pass on casting a ballot Tuesday, plunging election day turnout to a historical low, according to preliminary Election Canada figures.

Only 59.1 per cent - 13.8 million out of 23.4 million - of eligible voters made the trip to a polling station, breaking the previous low from the 2004 election that saw a 60.9 per cent turnout, according to the preliminary figures.

More Canadians, however, voted Tuesday than in 2004 when 13.6 million eligible voters marked in their electoral choice.



---

Newfoundland and Labrador recorded the lowest voter turnout among the provinces with only 48.1 per cent of eligible voters casting a ballot, according to the preliminary figures. Alberta had the second lowest turnout with 52.9 per cent, followed by Manitoba with 56.8 per cent, Ontario with 59.1 per cent, Saskatchewan with 59.4 per cent, Nova Scotia with 60.7 per cent, British Columbia with 61 per cent, Quebec with 61.1 per cent and New Brunswick with 62.8 per cent. Prince Edward Island had the highest turnout with 69.5 per cent of those eligible casting a ballot.

The Yukon had the highest turnout among the territories with 63.7 per cent of registered voters making the trip to the ballot box, followed by Nunavut with 49.4 per cent and the Northwest Territories with 48.6 per cent.

[KnowItAll]

...Lower the voting age and let 16 year olds vote! ....

No Way, there is already too many people voting without a clue or clear understanding of issues and their impact.

I can see it now, I am voting for whoever is going to pay my way through university, forget the rest of the issues. sheesh. no thanks.

Raise the age to 21 and make each voter take a mini test showing they have a certain level of awareness and understanding of 5 major issues.

[MacNews]

I don't understand how voter turnout keeps going lower. For the past 6 weeks newspapers, TV, and radio stations talked non-stop about the federal election. You can't get more coverage then that.

[KnowItAll]

way too short campaign time.

People exepected no change worth it anyhow

Last time, I caught at least 4 local debates on local tv, not one that I noticed this time. Which worked for our guy as he sucks at debate and only won last time because of his culture. This time, conservatives also ran someone of the same culture, and without my ever hearing a word from him, he lost only by about 400 votes, 16300 to 15900. A few wellknown and well watched debates, and no way would suckface dhaliwal have been re-elected.

[nelson95]

[quote="KnowItAll"][quote="Toppy Vann"] ...Lower the voting age and let 16 year olds vote! ....[/quote]No Way, there is already too many people voting without a clue or clear understanding of issues and their impact.

I can see it now, [i]I am voting for whoever is going to pay my way through university, forget the rest of the issues[/i]. sheesh. no thanks.

Raise the age to 21 and make each voter take a mini test showing they have a certain level of awareness and understanding of 5 major issues.[/quote]

Aren't we arrogent

There are plenty of teenagers with far more awareness than most adults

And since when is it bad to vote with self-interests at heart

Isn't that why people vote Conservative?

or is it because their pastor, priest, mufti, spouse, parent told them too.

I agree. Lower the voting age to the age of consent. ie Choose who gets to screw you

[KnowItAll]

no way I want my daughter making that choice at 16.

[Ballistic Bob]

I don't understand how voter turnout keeps going lower. For the past 6 weeks newspapers, TV, and radio stations talked non-stop about the federal election. You can't get more coverage then that.

Congrats Mac your man made it BB

[bclions16]

Lower the voting age and let 16 year olds vote!

Still strongly disagree with you. But how about one or a few youth representatives in parliament that the under 16s could vote for? That way they could get involved (starting the voting habit early that you and I agree on) without skewing the whole thing?

[sj-roc]

I don't understand how voter turnout keeps going lower. For the past 6 weeks newspapers, TV, and radio stations talked non-stop about the federal election. You can't get more coverage then that.

That may just be it: voter fatigue. This was the third federal election in a span of barely four years; it seems people are growing weary of these frequent trips to the polls. I understand you are very interested in politics (which I'm not criticising, btw) and very tuned in, but I suspect most people are not quite as intense about it and probably just prefer to go about their daily apolitical lives without constant election talk.

[MacNews]

That may just be it: voter fatigue. This was the third federal election in a span of barely four years; it seems people are growing weary of these frequent trips to the polls.

I don't think it's voter fatigue, but just Canadians are not used to having so much democracy at their feet. We're normally only treated to one vote every four years, so now that we have a federal vote every two years, people don't know what to do with themselves.

That only 60% of the voting population make the 15 minute effort to go vote shows you just how lazy, apathetic and useless our society is.