Elector apathy growing; Political how shrinking
Rahman Mohamed

According to Elections Ontario voter turnout has been steadily declining.  On June 9 CBC reported that Elections Ontario reported a 6% drop in turnout for advance polls.  Compared to 603,785 electors for advanced polls and a total of in 48% in 2011, only 566,845 Ontarians voted in 2014 advance polls.  Why?  Because they don’t know what to expect from leaders.

The 2014 election has centered around employment and economy, specifically Tim Hudak’s ambitious 1,000,000 jobs plan.  Hudak has spoken about reducing public servants and policy change, saying he’ll lower corporate taxes to lure business back to Ontario.  But he has avoided the constant question from Horwath and Wynne of revealing his math, how he comes to the number 1,000,000 jobs.

The same is true for all parties for post-secondary education.  The Conservatives have said they won’t allow any Ontarian to be denied an education because of money.  When she revealed the NDP platform, Andrea Horwath said she’d freeze tuition fees and make provincial loans interest free.  But neither says where they’ll get the money to do that.

Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals have been using non-traditional ads to reach out to post-secondary students but haven’t revealed any policy of how to help post-secondary students, the largest group of apathetic electors.

In all of their health-care policies every party suggest lowering ER wait times and helping more families access healthcare.  But besides the constant repetition of more beds without a plan the only new idea is the NDP’s forgiving student medical loans to bring them where they’re needed.

As the “how” in politicians’ campaign shrinks, elector question of “why” grows.  Will the Ontario vote continue to drop?