A possible parallel - wishful thinking

The polls are scary right now. Polls showing the Conservatives close to majority territory? How can people anywhere in Canada, especially in Ontario, be thinking of voting for these jerks? To be sure media cheerleading has to be part of the equation. Incumbency is always a boost.

But the Charlottetown Referendum
comes to mind. There was an overwhelming media drive to ensure a Yes vote. The party in power was totally invested in the result. And the night of the vote the No side won. Canada was going to evaporate! How dare the people ignore their elites? The result was a shock to all of the commentators and politicians. No one saw this coming! People didn't vote the way they were told to!

Well we are still here. Sovereignty is dormant.

I have a theory as to what happened. The voter turn-out was over 70%. I noticed that friends and co-workers that had never voted before were reading up on the Accord. They aren't normally charged by politics. But they knew this vote was different. This one mattered and by Referendum night they had done their homework and voted. Regardless of the result they were going to make their opinions heard. For this reason the vote gave me great faith in Canadain democracy and the people to get involved at critical times.

As October 14th approaches they will come to grips with the decision, confound the pollsters and send Harper packing.

I hope I am right that this happens again. Just to cover my bases, I am going to listen to CBC as much as possible. If I am wrong it will be one of the things I will miss the most. Except perhaps Healthcare but you can't listen to that.Recommend this Post