There was always going to have to be a federal election this year. But what was shaping up to be an election on Justin Trudeau, his carbon tax and the high cost of living has been completely hijacked by a tariff war launched by the new U.S. president. As just the first step of his plan to annex our country, the Trump tariffs present a truly existential threat.

There is no doubt, this is a five-alarm fire that demands the best effort we can muster to put out. And so, following the dropping of the writ, we are now in a fully-fledged federal election in which each of the contenders has quickly pivoted to casting themself as the best one to lead this fight.

So, we all need to get ready to get out there to vote for our favourite horse in this race. Unless we need to vote strategically, not for the candidate we want but for one who is best-placed to beat the one we don’t want, as is often the way in our antiquated first-past-the-post electoral system.

Voter turnouts both in Canada and the U.S. typically fall shamefully in the 66 per cent range or less. In the last federal election in Canada, held in 2021, of the 27 million eligible voters, only 17 million bothered to cast a ballot. Ten million who could have voted decided to stay home. More than a third of us left it to others to decide who would govern our country, how to spend our tax dollars, and what values would shape our future.
Or take last year’s election in the U.S. when, of the 255 million eligible voters, only 156 million voted, just shy of a 64 per cent turnout. That means that almost 100 million didn’t vote. Number crunchers have shown that with just 230,000 more votes in three states, Harris would have won. All the silliness and misery that has befallen the world as a result of the Trump victory could have been avoided had a few hundred thousand people gotten off their couches on election day and cast a vote.

So, we need to vote. To help you decide who to vote for, we are providing you with a preliminary profile of each of the candidates running in the federal riding of Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi, and we will follow up with more in-depth explorations of their priorities and views in subsequent issues of THE EQUITY.

But remember, the point of all of this is that our elected representatives represent you, which makes your priorities and views on the issues fundamental to the whole process. So, in addition to introducing the candidates to you, we invite you to tell us (in confidence) what questions you would like us to put to the candidates.

Participating in this election is the least any of us can do to protect Canada’s integrity, strengthen its ability to provide a sane and safe home for its citizens, and enable it to play a helpful role in the world. Our ability to choose a government by peaceful means is a privilege given to us by the sacrifice of many before us. To us they have thrown the torch. It is up to us to hold it high.

Ask questions. Listen to answers. And vote.