First of all, congratulations to Vicki Huntington and Scott Hamilton on their recent election as MLAs for Delta South and Delta North, respectively. Also congratulations to Bruce McDonald and Sylvia Bishop who finished in the runner up positions in the two Delta ridings. Although Victoria will miss their abilities, Delta is fortunate to continue to have their expertise on municipal council.
Huntington made history by being the first independent to ever be re-elected. Winning twice over candidates as strong as Wally Oppal and McDonald is quite an accomplishment.
I, like most everyone else, was taken in by the polls. While I expected Huntington to retain her seat in Delta South, I thought Bishop was a shoo-in to retain Guy Gentner's seat in Delta North for the NDP. As we all learned on election night, polling has become fallible.
Over the last few years there has been much bemoaning of the abysmal turnout for elections of late.
The last number I heard for Delta South was a 64 per cent turnout while the province as a whole came in at about 52 per cent. This year's turnout was slightly better than the last provincial election, but the trend line has been downwards for all levels of government.
This trend usually results in ideas to increase participation and the engagement of the citizenry in their government. The idea to make voting mandatory is floated on a regular basis. The objective is to get everyone out to the polls to elect our governments. Is this really a good idea? Are we not better off to just let a large percentage of the eligible population not vote, if that is what they wish?
There is a recent statistic that could be a factor in the declining participation. The latest census suggests that 20 per cent of the Canadian population were born outside the country. It would seem logical those who have not grown up in a representative democracy would be less likely to vote. Where English is not their first language, there is even less likelihood they will vote.
The fact that Richmond Centre had the lowest reported turnout in the province at 39 per cent would seem to support that theory. Richmond, of course, has a very large immigrant population. Would anything be gained by fining them for not voting? In due course, as new arrivals become familiar with the issues and the culture, they will increase their participation in the electoral process.
There are others who don't vote if they live in a riding where the result is a slam dunk. The ridings that had the highest turnout were those where there were close battles between two or three candidates. The turnout was high in Delta South in part because of the presence of Huntington on the ballot and her close battle with McDonald.
If it had only been McDonald up against the NDP candidate, he would have won in a landslide, but turnout would have been less since it would have been a sure thing.
As well, people should always have the privilege of not voting and hence choosing "none of the above."
