OP-ED : PARA SA AKING MGA KABABAYAN:
ELECTION MATTERS! GET ENGAGED, GET OUT THE VOTE, AND VOTE WISELY!
By Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired
Toronto-Canada
September 9, 2021
In Canada, the 44th federal election is just around the corner. Canada's new Governor-General has ordered the writ to be issued, the Parliament is dissolved, and the whole country, amid the pandemic, is at it. Candidates here and there are campaigning and "selling" their ideas, their promises, and their platforms for us to decide whom best to elect, on September 20, 2021, either to renew the mandate of the 43rd parliamentary government or to have a "fresh" government.
Yes, mga kababayan ko! it is that time again in our living daylights and waking hours that Canadians are being asked to decide and go to the election booths to cast their sacred ballots, how sacred the exercise is, I didn't really know much. Election issues involved are general and traditional in nature such as balanced budget, child care, climate change-environment, economy, education, employment, health care, housing, immigration, indigenous relations, racial diversity, seniors welfare, taxation, and many more.
For citizens and Filipinos across Canada, the snap election is a ritual in parliamentary democracy to choose a candidate whom they wanted to represent their interest on in whatever station in life they are. Whether one is a student, senior, professional, executive, farmer, worker, unemployed, retired, young mother, single parent, or whether one belongs to the so-called WASPS, LGBTQ, BIPOC, Eurocentrists, Racialized Minorities or the Marginalized communities, the process of election is a right of the free in a free society.
In a healthy democracy, when one is living, working, enjoying, or struggling as a citizen, the vote is very important. It is the choice to be made at the ballot box for the elected government to function, lead, serve, and provide the programs and services for the people regardless of background, race, orientation, or color. But in the real world of politics, power, and privilege these democratic ideals, concepts, and constructs are not usually utopian per se but oftentimes practiced engagements in hallowed terms and practicalities because problems and disagreements abound between competing ideologies, political persuasions, and realities in governance surface differently.
Canada is in the midst of relentless election campaigns and debates and everything is now political. The federal election is very, very important in a representative democracy, especially for the ethnic and racialized minorities including Filipinos in this adopted country. Indeed it is something that we hope for us, the electorate, to engage and express our long-felt desire to be sincerely respected and represented "on the table", so to speak, and to participate and "walk in the corridors of power". Is it then too bad to dream and hope for? The answer is No!, but we have to come out and vote. And vote accordingly. As a warning, "you cannot complain if you do not vote".
Canadian parliamentary elections, actually, are 338 separate elections, one in each electoral riding or constituency. But politically, Canadian elections are ultimately about leadership. Our leaders stand atop their parties, be they the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats, Bloc, or Greens, election practice dictates that voters take positions on issues according to the stances taken by the leaders they prefer. Moreover, the issues they assign weight to are those that leaders have suggested and advanced are important. Qualified and discernible voters follow their favored leaders. The evaluation of political party leaders is the paramount factor in the process of determining who can lead and deliver the goods, that is, the all-important platform and promise. In return, this assessment helps in translating and deciding whom to support and vote for the Member of Parliament candidate in your riding.
Candidates door knock, canvass and glad-hand, and at times, grandstand. Yesiree.They preen and promise and ask for your vote. Some candidates are more on the promise, others are less on delivery when elected. "Kaya ang tanong ay: Sino sa pananao at paniniwala mo na makaka-pagbigay ng bago o patuloy at subok na magaling na pamamaraan at palantuntunan para sa kaginhawanan sa iyong buhay at pamilya lalo na sa panahon ngayon ng pandemya". Whatever and whichever, it is our moment as voters. In the end, when it counts, what counts most is us. We decide.
Experientially, since 1986, this will be my 10th federal election to vote. Regardless of political stripes and affiliations, Filipinos especially those steeped in Philippine politics consider election as a source for "bread and butter" and others exercise the right of suffrage to foster change or continuity in government. In our "bayang sinilangan", sad to state, politics is more on "personality, patronage, and pocket", what's in it for me? In Canada, I would say, it's "philosophy, people, and progress". Realistically, we can not do away with politics. With all its challenges and criticisms, it's the "way of life" in a democratic society.
Ergo, election matters. When we vote, we care! Get out and vote! "Tara na, Kabayan , mag-boto na tayo"!!! (By Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired)