An Informed Decision — The Diary of a First Time Canadian Voter: Part 1
Welcome to my mini-series on being a first time Canadian voter. Although my passion primarily lies with#Auspol, in celebration of both recently becoming a Canadian citizen, and, kicking off my shiny new political blog on Medium, why not go outside the comfort zone and do a small commentary/analysis/opinion project on my journey to #Elxn44.
Part 1 — “An Informed Decision” (below) takes us through the process of enrolling to vote, observing the leadership candidate movements, perusing my local electorate, and, diving into a little process I love using to stack up the major parties and their platforms.
Part 2 — “Words, Mots, Words” acts as a review of the political debates slated for September 8th & 9th, providing analysis of the results from the perspective of a political enthusiast.
Part 3 — “Heavy is the Fed that Wears the Crown” — continues the enthusiastic analysis and is all about election day, the system, the festivities, and of course, the outcomes.
I hope this provides a fun viewpoint that both encourages voter participation, improves political decision making, and, challenges the political integrity of the candidates. Enjoy!
Part 1: An Informed Decision
One of the biggest draws to obtaining my Canadian citizenship was the ability to partake in a totally new and exciting parliamentary democratic process that usually gets my juices flowing: ELECTIONS! Oh and because my wife and son are Canadian too, I guess.
At the time of writing this, current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a snap election for September 20th, 2021. At first I was in disbelief. Australia desperately needed an election in the wake of disastrous pandemic response inaction.
Liberal critics are saying this was an opportunistic move by Trudeau, attempting to capitalise on his government’s fairly efficient COVID-19 vaccine rollout and double-jab milestones. The Canadian government however seemed to be in a relatively good spot despite pressure mounting in regard to residential school tragedies and an election seemed a little bit out of place.
For me, this was like an early birthday present. Since moving to Canada in 2013, and becoming a permanent resident in 2015, I’ve watched a number of Federal and Provincial elections from the sidelines, often influencing my wife’s vote by bombarding her with policy comparison spreadsheets, political analysis newsletters, or making her watch debates in both French and English.
“We” have voted for different parties at different levels, and the thought of being a “swing” voter without any historic voting dispositions despite my more left-leaning tendencies filled me with a thrilling sense of excitement.
So how do I vote? Who do I vote for? What are the steps I have taken to arrive at my decision? Will I go to bed on September 20th before knowing who won?
My first decision to make was: am I taking the day off work to vote, or should I try a postal vote? We decided to take the postal route as we have essentially become hermits because of the pandemic. We also have a newborn and going outside to do stuff became 20 times more difficult the second he showed up. 100 times worth it.
So here I am, staring down at this pretty little voters card and I think to myself “holy cheese curds — I don’t know who to vote for”.
My heart skipped a beat. Was it time to pull out the platform comparison spreadsheet that I’ve used to badger my better half every time Canadians go to the polls?
Yes. It was that time.
There’s a combination of factors I like to consider when making a voting decision:
Party Policies
- What are the party’s policies / platform promises?
- What is their track record of keeping them?
- How much do I align with their political leaning?
- Do I agree with the majority of their policies? (Or at least the ones that matter to me most?)
Local Candidates
- Who are the candidates in my electorate/riding?
- What do they offer?
- Are their promises stronger to me than those of the party?
Party Leaders
- Who are the party leaders?
- How do they present to the media or their constituents?
- Do I think they would make a good leader?
Media treatment
- How do the media portray each party and their leadership candidate?
- Is there any inherent bias towards a candidate or political leaning?
- Have I checked my sources on https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ ?
I believe that a combination of all these things should be the baseline for any voting decision, however it is very likely only one is considered for most voters. That’s where my obsession with data and statistics comes in.
The “Election / Candidate Voter Tool”
I’m a numbers driven guy, so I’ve created this handy little Google Sheet I use to weigh up my options (feel free to make a copy and use it, or reach out to me if you’d like a copy). A few quick disclaimers:
- This is designed to be a guide, not a definitive decision making tool, nor is it statistically sound. I am a politics nerd with an economics degree, not a mathematician or statistician.
- The sheet is designed for personal use and is not endorsed or funded by any political party or affiliation. I just ❤ numbers and politics.
- The screenshots I provide below are examples, not my final voting decision. Remember, Canadians have the constitutional right to a secret ballot!
- For purposes of speed, I’ve only considered the 3 biggest parties (Liberal, Conservative, and NDP). You can easily add more parties or candidates, or, use this for ANY election, not just a Canadian one. Sorry Greens/PPC/Bloc Quebecois/Jedi party.
Let’s start with policies, the engine room of an election campaign. I consistently use this Platform Guide from Macleans. I’ve painstakingly lifted the data from it (as of Sep 7th, you’re welcome) into this “Policies” tab. Once the policies have been added, start working through each party’s policies and:
- Give each policy a rating from 1 to 10 (where 10 is strongest alignment with the policy, and 1 in vehement disagreement with the policy).
- Only give a 0 where the party has no policy for a specific sector
- Leave the cell blank if you do not understand or have any opinion on the policy
- Check for any duplicates in different sectors (i.e. there might be a policy under “Taxes” that’s doubled under “Environment”)
Once you are done with that, go ahead and get an average for each party’s policies. Here’s an example of what it may look like:
Remember: take breaks! There’s lots of information here. Also, don’t feel pressured to rate all of the policies. Maybe only focus on the sections you care most about?
Once you have an indication of who you like from a policy perspective, let’s do a similar exercise for the candidates in your local area (if you don’t know who your electoral district candidates are, you can find that here). Head on over to the “Electoral Candidates” tab.
As an example — I initially stacked up the three main party candidates in my electorate of Spadina-Fort York based on the following categories:
- Likability — Is the candidate immediately likeable to you? What is your first impression? Are they someone who gives you confidence? How does the media portray them?
- Knowledge of Issues — Does the candidate have a proper understanding of federal, provincial/state, and local issues? Knowledge of issues important to all groups such as senior citizens, farmers, small business, churches, etc. is critical.
- Campaign Efforts — How hard has the candidate worked to try and win your vote? Has there been signs in your neighbourhood? Flyers? Social media campaigns? Events?
- Fire in the Belly — This is a term used in political circles to describe someone who has a desire to win and is willing to overcome obstacles. Does your candidate seem like a winner?
- Servant-Heartedness — Does the candidate seem willing to serve the needs of the people above the needs of self? As a servant leader, are they the best person for the job or is someone else is more equipped and “meant for this”?
- Work Ethic — Running for office is no easy task. Does the candidate use every ounce of energy and spare time dedicated to getting the job done?
- Philosophical Views — An individual’s worldview will dictate every decision they make. Their political, social, or economic philosophy will depend on where their core beliefs are derived from. Does the candidate possess desirable views?
- Ability to Communicate — Can the candidate speak well in public and be able to articulate a message, even in the face of adversity? How do they handle voters who disagree with them? Are they willing to listen to all sides of an issue, and be able to communicate with supporters and opponents?
- Clear Message — Does the candidate have a fancy logo and a nice brochure? Or do they appeal to voters on a deeper level? Can they rally them behind a common cause with a clear message?
- Teamwork & Party Alignment — Does the candidate have a strong volunteer base? Who are their financial supporters? Are they willing to ask, and allow others to help them?
- Political Experience — Does the candidate have a keen understanding of the political system? What about experience in running a campaign? Do they have experienced staffers as part of their election campaign team?
- Media Portrayal — How does the media portray this candidate? Are they seen in a positive light? Is there a lot of negative press? Is there any inherent bias in the reporting? Have you checked your source on https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ ?
Here’s an example of my Electoral District where I simply didn’t know a lot about the candidates:
So now you know how you stack up from a policy and a local candidate perspective, what about those party leaders you keep hearing about? Jump over to the “PM Candidates” tab and perform a similar exercise for the party leaders, with one extra category if you choose to watch: debate performance (more on this in Part 2 coming soon!). Here’s an example:
Once you’ve completed all three tabs, head over to the “Summary” tab to see where your hard work has lead you.
According to the above examples, this voter aligns heavily the Liberals when it comes to policy, does not seem to align with conservatives at all, but also favours the NDP when it comes to local and leadership candidates. So who would they vote for? The numbers say NDP, but the debates are yet to come, and, there’s still a couple of weeks until election day!
When I follow this process, I feel like I’ve made a more informed decision on who I want to vote for. It leaves me in palpable suspense for the debates scheduled for September 8th and 9th.
So what do you think?
I love feedback, discussion, and even debate. How do you decide on who to vote for? Do you even vote at all? If not, why? Would this tool help you? Leave your questions, comments, and feedback below, or hit me up on twitter — @pappy182
