The importance of voting

Things to do today:

1) Vote in the federal election. CHECK!

Being from Alberta, I sometimes feel like my vote doesn’t count. Aside from a few ridings in my hometown and a few in Calgary in recent years, the province is a sea of blue (Conservative). And yet, I also once saw an election in my own riding in which the Premier of the province was turfed out of his own riding because everyone thought he’d win and didn’t bother to vote for him, while the opposition did a great job of getting the vote out. So, every vote counts.

So, I hope everyone reading this makes certain to vote in your own election this fall, whether you’re in Canada or the US. It’s worth the effort.

I’ve not watched it yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing Michael Moore’s new film: Slacker Uprising. He’s made the film freely available on the Internet so that more people can see it before the election. If young Canadians and Americans voted en masse, they could quickly change the face of both countries. You can tell how much that makes politicians nervous by how little they are actually doing in both countries to mobilize that demographic. Obama, Layton, and May are leaders on this front, but I think there’s still a long, long way to go.

One thing Canada could use, for instance, is an equivalent of Rock The Vote.