Let’s see what actually happened during this last election, which followed two and a half years of accusations and a never ending tour of Canada by the Liberal leader.
According to figures supplied by Elections Canada, 24,000,000 Canadians were eligible to vote, of which 14,720,000 actually voted — or 60 per cent of the actual eligible voters.
In all, 5,888,000 voters voted for Conservatives Or 40 per cent of the votes cast, while 4,416,000 actual voters voted for NDP — or 30 per cent of votes cast. Meanwhile, 2,796,000 voters voted Liberal, or 19 per cent of votes cast.
So the Conservatives received 1,472,000 more votes than their closet rival, the NDP.
There were five parties running, including the Greens who lost about half their vote from the last election.
In Canada the winning party usually wins with about 45 per cent the vote.
Liberal leader Jean Chretien got several victories around and just under the 40 per cent mark. Bob Rae became premier of Ontario with 38 per cent of the popular vote.
Simply put, If you don’t show up to vote you do not count, you are a zero, you cannot win or score in a game you do not show up for.
Counting absent ballots assuming they would all have voted against the winning party? How do you figure that?
It could just as easily be said they are all perfectly satisfied with the status quo.
But following that, in my opinion, flawed reasoning: 98 per cent did not vote for Greens, 70 per cent did not vote for NDP and fully 81 per cent did not vote for the Liberals.
Did I vote? You bet! The right to vote is even more important when 40 per cent choose to give my vote more weight.
The people have spoken! Canada is the envy of the world.
I am now looking forward to enjoying four years of good government.
LR Brown
Qualicum Beach