{"id":1755,"date":"2013-09-14T13:35:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T13:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:41:39","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:41:39","slug":"ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tracey Arial<\/b><\/p>\n

\nwww.arialview.ca<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
With a municipal election now on in Montreal, I\u2019ve come up with ten reasons to cast your vote for the key politicians whose decisions determine whether your community functions well and remains diverse or simply looks exactly like everywhere else.<\/p>\n

As of September 5, we\u2019re now officially in a municipal election campaign in Montreal. (See the official election notice<\/a>). We vote on Sunday, November 3.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also unofficially in a provincial election too. The best guess for that election is December 9. No notice has yet been filed.<\/p>\n

During the last Montreal municipal election, only 39.4% of the people who were eligible to vote did so. Then Mayor Tremblay won with 38% of that<\/a>, or a total of 159,020 votes.<\/p>\n

During the provincial election, the voter participation rate<\/a> went up to 74.6%.<\/p>\n

These figures are both too low, but the municipal election results are truly pathetic. We need more people who care enough to research the candidates, attend debates and vote. But if your style is just to go in there and guess, that\u2019s okay too. Whether you vote for people you trust, people you think can get the job done without bothering you or people who share your values, you need to vote. Even if you spoil your ballot by selecting all or none of the candidates, that\u2019s still showing people that the issues matter and that you\u2019re paying attention. You just don\u2019t support anyone. No one has the right to know whom you voted for.<\/p>\n

Taking the time to go into a ballot box and mark a ballot counts.<\/p>\n

To encourage you, I\u2019ve come up with ten reasons to vote in the municipal election on November 3. Some are earnest, some are meant to be funny. If I missed something, please comment below.<\/p>\n

10) You have a chance to participate equally. If you\u2019re a woman, it\u2019s a chance to be fully equal in a society that\u2019s still patriarchal. If you\u2019re an immigrant or a member of a visual minority, you can show people that society is made up of diversity. If you\u2019re religious, you can show that you\u2019re politically active. If you\u2019re a tenant, you can participate equally in a society that still gives more rights to landowners. (Landowners still have more rights: check out this notice<\/a> to people who don\u2019t live in Montreal.) If you\u2019re a student, you can show that young people are just as responsible as their elders. If you\u2019re homeless, elderly, injured or otherwise vulnerable, you can prove that you\u2019re just as human as everyone else. Make voting a social act of rebellion in whatever way works for you.<\/p>\n

9) Your vote can eliminate that of someone in an interest group. Some municipal politicians count on a low voter turnout because it enables them to appeal to a few active members of an interest group they know. When the entire population gets involved, they can\u2019t cater solely to their friends.<\/p>\n

8) You can wear whatever you want. This might be the last time.<\/p>\n

7) You can scare the politicians. When more people vote, it takes longer to count the ballots and the possibility of wavering between candidates, of having closer votes, and of miscounts is higher. Politicians have to wait to see whether they were fairly elected or not. They have less of a chance of taking anyone for granted and journalists have more action to report. It\u2019s more entertaining for everyone.<\/p>\n

6) Bribes, if you take them, will go higher.<\/p>\n

5) You\u2019ll be more likely to understand the system. There\u2019s nothing like taking on responsibility to force someone to learn things they really don\u2019t want to learn. You might not like what you learn, but at least you\u2019ll get to live in reality. Things can\u2019t be changed if people don\u2019t understand why they\u2019re broken.<\/p>\n

4) Your values have a better chance of being respected. Even if politicians lie to get elected, they might have to keep telling the same lies to stay elected. There\u2019s a better chance they\u2019ll do what most people want if they think they can get thrown out if they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

3) The money gets better spread around. When an election seems close, businesses, bad guys and other influencers tend to pay a little something to everyone other than simply supporting the candidates they want.<\/p>\n

2) You\u2019ll make election officials work harder. The higher the voter turn-out, the longer they have to work. Think of it as a make-work project.<\/p>\n

1) Municipal politicians are only ones between a diverse community that functions well and a collection of buildings that look exactly like everywhere else. They determine whether there\u2019s space for homes, green spaces, jobs, schools, hospitals, social housing, places of worship, transportation and emergency services nearby. They decide who and how often the snow gets cleared, who fixes the roads and how frequently it\u2019s done, who repairs our water mains and how we collect waste. They take care of our libraries, arenas and cultural centres. They set the vision for how high our buildings are and where they get built. They work with the police and the fire department to protect our businesses and homes. They know who works hardest in the community and under what conditions. They know who we are and how we want to live. You have the opportunity and the responsibility to select them. Please do it wisely.<\/p><\/div>\n

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
\n (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
\n m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
\n })(window,document,’script’,’\/\/www.google-analytics.com\/analytics.js’,’ga’);<\/p>\n

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-45892555-1’, ‘robertfrankmedia.blogspot.com’);
\n ga(‘send’, ‘pageview’);<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tracey Arial www.arialview.ca With a municipal election now on in Montreal, I\u2019ve come up with ten reasons to cast your vote for the key politicians whose decisions determine whether your community functions well and remains diverse or simply looks exactly like everywhere else. As of September 5, we\u2019re now officially in a municipal election<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTen reasons to vote in municipal elections - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Tracey Arial www.arialview.ca With a municipal election now on in Montreal, I\u2019ve come up with ten reasons to cast your vote for the key politicians whose decisions determine whether your community functions well and remains diverse or simply looks exactly like everywhere else. As of September 5, we\u2019re now officially in a municipal election\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-14T13:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-01T19:41:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editor robert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editor robert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"editor robert\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\"},\"headline\":\"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-14T13:35:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-01T19:41:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":989,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections - Newscoverage\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-14T13:35:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-01T19:41:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/14\\\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newscoverage\",\"description\":\"newscoverage.org\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\",\"name\":\"editor robert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"editor robert\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/robert.frank.90834\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/editor-robert\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections - Newscoverage","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections - Newscoverage","og_description":"By Tracey Arial www.arialview.ca With a municipal election now on in Montreal, I\u2019ve come up with ten reasons to cast your vote for the key politicians whose decisions determine whether your community functions well and remains diverse or simply looks exactly like everywhere else. As of September 5, we\u2019re now officially in a municipal election","og_url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/","og_site_name":"Newscoverage","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834","article_published_time":"2013-09-14T13:35:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-01T19:41:39+00:00","author":"editor robert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editor robert","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/"},"author":{"name":"editor robert","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3"},"headline":"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections","datePublished":"2013-09-14T13:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-01T19:41:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/"},"wordCount":989,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/","url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/","name":"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections - Newscoverage","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-09-14T13:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-01T19:41:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/14\/ten-reasons-to-vote-in-municipa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ten reasons to vote in municipal elections"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/","name":"Newscoverage","description":"newscoverage.org","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3","name":"editor robert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"editor robert"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834"],"url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/author\/editor-robert\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4741,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions\/4741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}