It’s not just political hyperbole this time.
In every campaign, there's a candidate or two, in an effort to get your vote, who will overstate the importance of the pending election, contorting an issue in such a way as to give it far more weight than it deserves.
This time around that’s not the case as the magnitude of next Monday’s federal election is very real. Foothills Liberal candidate John Bruinsma has called it the most consequential election in his lifetime, while many others have characterized it in similar ways. A Nanos Research poll done for CTV News and the Globe and Mail found that 86 per cent of Canadians believe this election is more important than past ones.
It would be a significant election in its own right given the state of the economy and the change in leadership of both the Liberal Party and the country as a whole, but continued tariff and sovereignty threats from U.S. President Donald Trump have taken Canada’s 45th federal election to a whole new level.
It is indeed an election for the ages.
Given the stakes, it would make sense that voters turn out in record numbers, or at least in sufficient force to stem the tide of declining electoral participation. Once upon a time, Canadian elections routinely saw more than 70 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, but we haven’t cracked that threshold in more than 30 years.
Lines at advance polling stations last weekend across the country, including here in the Foothills, provide hope that a greater number of voters want to make their voices heard in what is shaping up to be a monumental election.
Claims this will be a once-in-a-generation or once-in-a-lifetime election aren’t exaggerated, so do your civic duty and go out and cast a ballot.
