Election has been interesting but not the way we thought
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on October 21, 2019.
Canadians are heading to the polls today, exercising our democratic right to vote and casting a ballot being one’s civic duty. This election has been telling as to how shallow we have become as voters. The good news is at least 4.7 million ballots have been cast in advance polls so interest is there. Say what you want about the fact Justin Trudeau has been involved in some well documented controversies and even the dubious SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal among others, the Liberal campaign team has done a masterful job in glossing them over and the Conservatives failing to take advantage of it. All are serious allegations that get defibrillator length attention but then everyone forgets about it and then moves on to the next thing. Much like a movie or video. The “do first, ask forgiveness later” method works for Trudeau as there are media stories of Trudeau being the “most apologetic leader” ever. And that’s just it, it is always stories like that get the most attention. To get a look at the issues check out the overview done by The Globe and Mail – theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-party-platforms-guide-canadian-federal-election-2019/ In social media’s clickbait style of determining what is most desirable for us to read, such as stories on how apologetic Justin is all the time, we forget that the economy isn’t in good shape, the east coast is hurting unemployment wise, provinces are fighting amongst themselves, a petroleum industry almost being dismantled without a solid plan in place for those thrown out of work or adjusting to alternative sources for energy and how that will effect ordinary life. Think of everyone switching to electric cars and solar/wind energy to power residential areas; think of the grids which need replacing as everyone plugs their vehicles at home in? Those issues are ignored. Trudeau in his own way has successfully emulated his father in regards to use charm to mesmerize voters. Whereas Pierre Elliott silenced people with his over-the-top scholarly arrogance, adding a dash of suave jet-setting, Justin silences questions about controversy and the fact that the economy is tanking with people across the country without jobs or at least decent paying ones is getting little to no attention. Whenever the petroleum industry comes up, it has been cast as a negative and turns into an environmental debate. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who is supportive of the energy sector, doesn’t seem to be getting his message across. He stands at a podium smiling and trying to get his message across; he flatlines. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has been getting more attention as his soundbites from the English debate went over well. The Canadian media seems more worried about a 16-year-old Swedish student who somehow captured media attention in the United States with speeches to the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit in September. Is our lack of looking at the major issues because of a lack of time? Our society is so focused on money and status, perhaps because of necessity or perhaps were just selfish and greedy, doesn’t that say a lot about who we are voting for and why? Perhaps it is as simple as we are busy trying to earn a paycheque either through multiple employers or high intensity and high energy jobs that we are so mentally and emotionally spent that we don’t have the energy to make an informed choice. Has social media just taught us our attention spans are 30 seconds long? That we prefer mindless drivel to having to read actual paragraphs, actual content that makes us think? If one sits down and spends a lot of time researching each of the parties, finds out all the information what the parties stand for, what the histories of all the leaders are, we all may be surprised. (Ryan Dahlman is the managing editor of Prairie Post West and Prairie Post East.) 15-14
