Dear Editor,

So, we have an election that nobody felt was necessary, which will be inconvenient and expensive. This is when we need to apply ironscopic vision to the situation.

You may like the local candidate for a certain party, but not care for the leader, or vice-versa. We elect a member of parliament and whichever party has the most members elected gets to form the government. If you vote for someone who doesn’t win, did you waste your vote? No more than if you root for one team in a hockey tournament and they don’t win the game. They still appreciate that you bought a ticket and made some supportive noise. My nieces and nephew live in the riding of Justin Trudeau, so they actually have a tiny bit of say in whether he returns to Parliament or not. 

We’ve had local members who were part of the government and members who were in the loyal opposition. Does it make a difference to our lives? Not much. The Canadian Government should be of and for the general population of Canada — we should not be expecting special treatment and we usually don’t get special treatment. This is a federal election and most of the issues that actually touch our lives here in the Pontiac are under provincial jurisdiction, so that federal rules are mostly talking points. That’s what Parliament does — talks — that’s why they call it parler-ament. 

As to schools, hospitals, pandemic avoidance strategies, traffic regulations, environmental regulations, agricultural regulations, etc., those are provincially-controlled aspects and whomever gets elected to represent Pontiac in Parliament, is a passive observer of life on Earth as we know it. But still, vote and feel free to complain about the government, because how else will members of Parliament know we’re paying attention? Oh, and once again, vote for a minority government — that’s the best kind. 

Robert Wills , Shawville and Thorne, Que.