Last year and in the year 2011 only about 61% of people actually went out to vote, I think it's absurd and foolish that people aren't voting when they have the ability to have the right to choose their leaders. If Canada laid a penalty on people who do not vote we will have more votes and maybe even more fair results. In countries like Fiji, and Morocco they don't have the choice or ability to vote for who will represent them. In other countries like Lebanon and Bhutan women aren't allowed to vote, I'm sure many of the people from these countries dream about being able to vote, and decide who makes the decision for their rights, but that's all it is a dream they don't have the privilege like we in Canada do to vote for our leaders.
In Australia citizens can be fined about 20 dollars for not voting and if they don not pay the fine after many warning letters are sent. Their voting participation rates are around 95%, though it is just $20 it still works, because people want to avoid being fined or put in jail, and this tactic is what I think Canada should do to get a more higher voting rate. I believe that the votes are a representative sample of the whole population, not just the people who are active and interested enough to want to vote, and Because everyone has to vote, the whole country may become more politically literate and they might actually learn what their positions on different issues are, allowing them to make very informed decisions about their choice of who they want as their representatives.
I think that if Canada makes voting mandatory it will improve our democracy, and people would be taking advantage of their privilege to vote. I strongly believe that a law should be enforced to make Canadians aware that they are lucky to be able to vote.
Good Idea Nancy!
ReplyDeleteI believe Canadian should care more about Politics and should have chosen the leader that fit there interest. I also like how you said that only 61 percent of the Canadian vote in 2011 that proves people in Canada didn’t care too much about politics.
I personally think Australia voting system should not be in Canada. For example if you are force to vote, and you never care about politics, how are you supposed to know who to vote? Also I think that idea force people look at advertisement by the government instead of looking at the policy and project they plan out by the Parties.
I think instead of following the policy in Australia, we should instead teach the student how important the voting is. Our school are one of the school that force every student to vote, other school don’t do that therefore they don’t know the importance of voting. We should let every school learn the voting system and how important the voting is. The result will turn out to be better and focus more on the policies rather than looking the advertisement made by the parties.