Little Old Ladies Manning The Polls

June 29th, 2004

So it’s the day after the election and Paul Martin’s Liberals pulled it off, but not without a scolding from the electorate (the Conservatives won 99 seats - a significant increase since the last election…but of course, last election, they were splintered into two parties, the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance…but we digress).

Instead of going further into depth about the results of the election, I’m going to get all weepy and patriotic on you today and tell you a brief story. Bear with me on this one.

Before work yesterday, registration card in hand, I went to my local polling station to vote. I walked in the door, padded over to the poll indicated on my card and received a nice little folded ballot from a kindly old lady. She indicated the booth behind her and I went over and marked my X in the circle next to my preferred candidate. Then, I returned my ballot to the kindly old lady - she tore a numbered strip off it and then deposited it in the ballot box. And I went on my merry way.

So you’re probably thinking: “who gives a crap? We all did that yesterday. You’re wasting my time. Jerk.” And you’d mostly be right.

Except, my point is this: the story I just told you is actually freaking incredible! Recent world events have clearly demonstrated the fact that many countries don’t have democracy of any kind - some are lawless; some are ruled by dictators or theocrats; and some simply oppress the populace to the point where they can’t vote freely.

In Canada, we have possibly the finest example of democracy around - one where every single person is free to vote for whom they choose without the threat of oppression, intimidation or physical violence. Any country that has little old ladies manning the polls - instead of, say, armed gunmen - is one I want to live in. And I bet you think the same, but maybe you’d never thought about it before.

All I’m saying is that it’s an amazing thing to see democracy work - peacefully, without fanfare and with a binding result that isn’t going to be questioned and/or decided by the courts. Yesterday morning, I counted my blessings once again - it’s great to be Canadian.

Posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 at 11:05 am by Justin and is filed under Blog.

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