One day in early February, I spent a couple hours going door to door in my Etobicoke, Ont., neighbourhood delivering candidate flyers for the upcoming Ontario election.
The last time I did this was on June 2, 2022, the day of the last election. That day, my mother and I spent a sunny afternoon knocking on doors to remind people to vote. Candidate signs were up in many yards. We walked at a quick pace, covering some 17 kms.
On this week’s walk, it was minus 15 with the windchill. Icy spots lurked under snow-covered sidewalks and driveways. Several times I almost fell. Unlike in 2022, there were hardly any signs up. And this time I walked alone. Though my 79-year-old mother is fit and healthy, one slip on an icy step could mean a broken hip and long recovery.
I barely got through half of the flyers I aimed to distribute before the sun went down and the cold forced me home. As I warmed up inside, I realized how problematic this election is.
Premier Doug Ford called this snap election just five weeks before the Feb. 27 election date. This is more than a full year ahead of when the election was supposed to be held under Ontario’s Election Act, which mandates elections every four years in June. Â
A snap election deters people from participating as candidates and volunteers.
In a normal, four-year election cycle, prospective candidates can plan for an absence from work. It is pretty much impossible to do this if one doesn’t know when an election will be called.
Even within a normal election cycle, the pool of people who can devote energy to a campaign is shallow. Jobs, children and aging parents take priority. Holding an election in winter puts up yet another hurdle to participating. In the case of older folks and those with mobility issues, winter weather may prevent them from helping altogether.
This snap election also impacts us as voters.
In a normal election cycle, candidates would have already been going door to door. They would have been calling us to introduce themselves for several weeks, if not months, before the actual election period. We would have had a chance to engage with candidates at the door or on the phone, or to meet with them at campaign functions. Now, there is hardly any time: I’ve spoken with several people in recent weeks who have no idea who their candidates even are.
Plus, there are additional barriers to voting. Many snowbirds have gone south and will only be able to vote by mail. But the turnaround time for requesting and sending back your ballot is extremely tight. As well, this election, there are only three days of advance voting, instead of the usual 10 days.
And how many people will read the polls projecting another Progressive Conservative majority and decide they’ll take a pass on going out in the cold weather to vote?
We already know that voter engagement is a serious problem: in the last provincial election, only 43.5 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot. This was the lowest turnout on record for an Ontario election. I suspect we may have an even lower turnout this time.
This provincial election appears to be quietly slipping by most of us. This was by design. Ford’s choice to call an election in the dead of winter with no advance notice is a cruel blow to our democratic rights.
We should all be furious.
Truly, Ford’s tactics should be described as Voter Suppression!!!
Ford is also paying Bell Media to post fake “ballot tracker” graphics showing his party far in the lead, at the top of the “news” websites they own. In fine print at the bottom they admit that these “ballot trackers” are actually Nanos polls. Both CP24 and CTV post these polls, which are designed to look like the ballot trackers seen on election nights and to fool voters into thinking that these are actual votes being counted. Beside the “trackers” they always have a second Nanos poll showing Ford far in the lead. This is election interference at its finest.
When I first saw these “trackers” I sent an email to Elections Ontario with a complaint. They ignored my complaint. Elections Ontario also reduced the amount of time for advance polling, deleted thousands of people from the voters list (including me), and delayed releasing polling station information until the last microsecond. It seems Ford has Elections Ontario in his back pocket as well.
So much for democracy. Get ready for more years of a criminal stealing billions from taxpayers, bogus projects used to money launder for his organized crime pals, and brutalizing the poor, disabled and renters.