Take Action Tuesday

Canadian Elections 2019

September 17 (post by Ashley Shaw and Heather Slinn)

Canadian Federal Elections 2019 are on October 21st! For the next five weeks, parties will be discussing their platforms to potential voters in the hopes of winning the election. Media focus has been primarily based upon the power struggle between the Conservatives and the Liberals, headed by Andrew Scheer and Justin Trudeau, respectively. However, the New Democratic Party (NDP) lead by Jagmeet Singh and the Green Party lead by Elizabeth May, have gained significant traction in the dominant narrative. At this point in the race, voters have many resources to be informed of the development of policies and decisions that may heavily impact their lives. 

If you are eligible to vote, there are a few key steps that you can take to prepare for the 2019 elections:

1. Register to vote: https://www.elections.ca/content2.aspx?section=reg&document=index&lang=e

2. Read through the initial platforms and policies provided by each party:

   1. https://2019.liberal.ca/

   2. https://www.ndp.ca/

   3. https://www.greenparty.ca/en

   4. https://www.conservative.ca/

3. Check out this vote compass provided by the CBC to determine which party your values align with: https://votecompass.cbc.ca/canada/

4. Follow the debates on television to witness what is being discussed and what commitments are being made

5. Attend town hall meetings to speak with representatives and take part in politically charged discussions

6. If you will be outside the country during the election, make sure to either pre-vote: https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=vote&document=index&lang=e#advance or send vote by mail https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/living-abroad/elections-faq.

7. Encourage your friends, colleagues, family to vote.

8. Sign petitions and contribute to one of the campaigns around this election organized by LeadNow (https://www.leadnow.ca/), The Council of Canadians (https://canadians.org/), David Suzuki Foundation (https://davidsuzuki.org/) and Fair Vote Canada (https://www.fairvote.ca/).  There are many more non-profit and non-governmental organizations that you can get involved with.

9. Need more information about voting in the Canadian elections? Check out this CBC article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-voter-guide-2019-federal-election-1.5260336

10. As we come closer to the election near the end of October, we will learn more about what decisions each party plans to implement should they win. While the election itself is very important, it is also imperative to practice self-care when delving into the world of politics. The decisions each party plans to make do have significant impacts on our population. However, it is easy to get caught up in the seemingly never-ending source of issues our society has grown to face including climate change, gender inequality, and the struggle towards effective reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

Stay tuned for additional posts regarding the Canadian Elections in the coming weeks.

Photo by Silvestri Matteo on Unsplash