WE ARE NOT GOING TO TELL YOU TO GO VOTE — that’s a choice you get to make — but what we will say though is, consider it. The results of this election will impact all of Canada. They will affect your community and they will affect communities you’re not a part of.
No single candidate or party is perfect, just as there is no one political ideology that is without criticism. But harm is not a zero-sum game, and whatever choice you make — to vote, to not vote, who you vote for — will have very real effects on our country and both for the good and the bad.
Within any democracy our obligation is to consider those outside ourselves and to ask how the choices we make can echo out into the community. Do your research. Don’t just listen to your family. Don’t just listen to your friends. Listen to and try to understand the perspectives of those around you. But don’t stop there.
Read widely. Be critical of rhetoric that is divisive, and especially when it promises better unity though this division. Be patient and cautious and talk to people whose experiences and perspectives are different, perhaps even opposed, to your own. Not all are valid, but all are worth considering (even if it serves no purpose other than to be able to confidently say they are invalid). Be forgiving and understand that we can disagree with an individual but still support their politics, and that, while imperfect, it is necessary to consider both.
In this issue we’ve included a guide to voting. It’s basic, but it should be enough to get you feeling comfortable with the process. When election day itself comes, know that if you are eligible to vote, a part-time job should not prevent you from voting. Eligible voters who work are entitled to three consecutive hours for voting and your employer should already know this.
If you do decide to vote, be sure that do so with some degree of understanding and compassion. If you choose not to vote, be sure that this choice comes from a place of deliberation rather than resignation and be sure to write the candidate who wins and let them know why you didn’t vote.
See you at the polls!