Who do you trust more, a politician or an influencer?
According to the latest Ipsos Global Trustworthiness Index the answer is neither. The poll found doctors, scientists, and teachers are the most trusted professions. Politicians and influencers were tied for last place; less trusted than taxi drivers, pollsters, ordinary men and women, journalists, bankers, and advertising professionals.
The people who we elect to oversee our governments, to protect our democracies, and to whom we give the power to improve our lives daily? Those people we trust the least.
This should be a crisis. Low voter turnout threatens our democracy by calling into question the legitimacy of our elections. But it is not. The only time voter apathy becomes a concern is during election cycles.
As Ontario counts down to a snap election on February 27, blame is being divvied up among the usual suspect: young people.
“There is a lack of hope, a lot of pessimism and misinformation. Nobody seems to be taking action,” Jaden Braves, 16, of Young Politicians of Canada said in an interview with Global. “Young people don’t trust the system.”
There’s that word again. Trust.
Over the past few election cycles, we’ve become very good at blaming young people and the electorate for not being civically minded, but the blame is never placed at the feet of the very same group of people who benefit from voter apathy: politicians.
To address the roots of apathy, there would have to be action, and it seems it’s easier to pass blame than to address the issue of why voters are disengaged from their civic responsibility.
Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have a majority government, yet he decided to call an election a year and a half ahead of schedule. While the government operates under the caretaker convention he’s continued to represent Ontario as its premier, travelling to the U.S. in an attempt to reason with the Trump administration. This is no doubt a good thing, but what would have stopped him from doing it without an election, as he already had a majority government and therefore a strong mandate?
When the election was called, some of the opposition parties had to scramble to vet candidates and, with two weeks to the election, some are still working out their platforms.
Calling an election in the middle of winter is likely to worsen already low voter turnout.
The last winter election in Ontario was more than 40 years ago. The last time an election was held in February? 1883.
Yes we are Canadians and winter is like a walk in the park for us but studies show, weather does impact voter turnout.
The last time Ontarians participated in a provincial election was in June 2022 and yet that election set the record for the lowest voter turnout in history. Only 43.5 per cent of eligible voters exercised their right to vote.
It’s easy to flatten non-voters into one bucket, but how can our democracy thrive when the majority of people decide not to participate?
To be clear, Ontario isn’t the only province facing these issues. Turnout in Saskatchewan has dropped by 30 per cent since 1982. In British Columbia, 71.5 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in 1996. That number dropped to 53.9 per cent in 2020.
So why aren’t we participating? In Ontario, more than 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor and that number is expected to rise to over 4 million in one year. All of us should care about the why — at one point or another, all of us will need medical care. It’s not surprising that health care has become a leading issue for this snap election.
The other parties running to replace Ford have some catching up to do. But Bonnie Crombie is challenging Ford to a pushup competition and the NDP is attacking the Liberals for the ills of the last Liberal government — which hasn’t governed since 2018.
Debates are an opportunity for voters to engage with candidates but some candidates are limiting or refusing to appear. Speaking of debates, of the two scheduled before the February 27 election, one had the price tag of $130 a ticket.
Ontarians can’t get a doctor and can’t afford groceries — let alone a place to live. If no party has convinced them that they’ll improve their day-to-day lives, can we blame them for not taking the time to vote?
So should the voter turnout be low as expected, let’s not blame it on voter apathy. Our democracy depends on it.
For information on how to vote, visit: https://www.elections.on.ca/en.html
Correction: An earlier version of this article indicated that the Global Trustworthiness Index was released in December. It was released in November. TVO Today regrets the error.