Well you would have to be living under a rock to not be aware that the Americans are heading to the polls in November to choose between John McCain and Barack Obama. However, what you might not have heard is that Canada is also heading to the polls in October to choose a new Federal government.
Time is of essence. The 2008 North American elections may be the most important elections of the century. Scientists around the globe have said that we have limited time to react to climate change before we reach the point of a very difficult or near impossible return. Under the current Federal governments, North America is showing no leadership on climate change. As two of the top consuming and greenhouse gas emitting nations in the word, it is important that North America gets on board with mitigating climate change.
America has refused to ratify the Kyoto Accord and both Canada and America have been largely apathetic about climate change. With issues like foreign oil policy, clean energy policies, clear-cut logging, the Iraq war, Canada’s Tar Sands, and Arctic sovereignty, on the table – these elections matters. The North American elections are crucial to finding world leaders that will make aggressive strides in reducing greenhouse gases.
However, as much as the politicians have been apathetic towards addressing greenhouse gas reductions, North Americans have also been apathetic in voting and getting involved in political issues. In America, roughly 60% of the population votes. The American figures are impressive, reports The Washington Post, voter turnout hadn’t been that high since 1968 when Richard Nixon was voted in. Elections’ Canada reports that in 2006 about 64% of Canadians voted in the Federal election. Overall since 1867, Canadian voting turnout has been decreasing.
It is important that you exercise your right to vote. And when you do vote - vote for the planet.
Thankfully, numerous organizations and individuals in the USA are working their nonpartisan asses off to encourage people to get out and register to vote. Whether it is celebrities holding fund-raisers, the Rock The Vote, MTV's Choose or Lose, or Declare Yourself campaigns, there is a movement to emphasize how important the political process is and how imperative it is that people vote in the 2008 elections. The American based Declare Yourself youth voter advocacy group sums it up with, ‘Only you can silence yourself.’
Unfortunately, Canada has no such large-scale national voter advocacy movement. With a stake in the Arctic, Alberta’s Tar Sands, and enormous tracts of forests, Canadian government policy is important to the well being of the planet. The Canadian-based environmental organization, the David Suzuki Foundation, has set up a Vote Environment website encouraging Canadians to vote for the planet. David Suzuki writes on the website, ‘My nightmare is that the issue of the environment will be ignored in this election and that concerns about our planet will be drowned out by the name-calling and political posturing that have come to mark Canadian campaigns.” The Sierra Club Canada has launched a Voter’s Guide to the Climate Crisis Election to tell Canadians about the importance of knowing where each of the candidates stand on climate change.
This October/November, wherever you are in North America, it is important that you exercise your right to vote. And when you do vote - vote for the planet.
Resources
Elections Canada: http://www.elections.ca/
Declare Yourself: http://www.declareyourself.com/
Rock The Vote: http://www.rockthevote.com/
Sierra Club: http://www.sierraclub.ca/
USA Voting Info: http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting.shtml
Vote Environment: http://www.voteenvironment2008.ca/
Vote Fair Canada: http://www.fairvotecanada.org/
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