Your voice

One thing which has been heartening for me to see these past couple of weeks is the number of people interested in the provincial election process.

I’ve attended candidates’ forum events in Port Perry and Uxbridge in the last little while. Both events were well attended, and the local candidates received a number of great questions from residents and local organizations.

At the Uxbridge event specifically, I was happily surprised by the number of people who lined up behind the microphone to ask a question. At that event, the moderator Ted Barris summed it up perfectly when he said: “the healthiest democracies are participatory democracies,” and Ontarians do not take their freedoms for granted.

After two years of COVID-19 lockdowns and sometimes sad updates about the virus, it would be easy for people to become disheartened by the political process and distance themselves from it. We just had a federal election last year, so people could have been affected by election fatigue. Fortunately, that has not been the case in North Durham.

It is important for the candidates to hear what has been troubling their constituents or what has been on people’s minds, as they can bring those concerns or issues to Queen’s Park, if elected, for debate and discussion. If you look at what has been happening in Ukraine, it should remind all of us how fortunate we are to live in a democratic nation, where we have a voice in our province’s future and our country’s future. This election is an opportunity for every resident to be heard and to provide their input on what the provincial government should do going forward. It can also help shape the country, as whoever is elected Premier will work with, and potentially influence, the Prime Minister on certain issues.

I hope all of this interest in local communities leads to a record voter turnout on election day, June 2nd.

#capedcearnsader #column #DanCearns