The campaign ads are dominating TV now. It’s the last few days of a pretty vigorous campaign and this is when the war chests are being opened fully. Truly, it’s a beautiful thing.

We shouldn’t fear or loathe elections. They are one of the greatest things Canada has to offer us. It’s the politicians handing us control of the gov’t; saying “pick’em!” So few of us take the offer. It’s easy, especially if you’re young, do be disillusioned, disinterested, or just disgusted by the whole process. We seem to have taken a gov’t model that should suit any nation well and morphed it into something that is easily exploited by partisan politics. Still, the give us a chance to change things ever 3-5 years and we, the lowly Canadian punter, don’t capitalize. Nearly two thirds of us apathetically tell the country that we’re fine with how things are done.

Vote. It’s simple. They make it really easy. Check out the Elections Alberta website and find out how convenient it is to get info about who’s running and where to mark and X.

But… don’t just vote. Vote for yourself. I’ve never been a fan of strategic voting. It makes zero sense. The purpose of our form of gov’t is to represent the population fairly. The only way that can function is if each citizen uses his ballot to reflect his interests and desires. Backing a candidate just to bolster numbers regardless of how you feel about his or her position on key issues undermines the process. If we vote for ourselves and pick the player we most agree with, only then will we have a truly representative gov’t. (I’m aware of the argument that popular vote isn’t reflected in our gov’ts.)

Using the ballot to punish or oust a party won’t speak for your interests. Don’t use elections to cause a coup. Use the ballot to speak individually about what’s important to you.

In Alberta, we’ve had PC reign for 37 years. There’s a reason for that: Albertans have voted for it.

Vote for what you want. That’s the message you want your ballot to send.

I wish it didn’t have to be said, but it does.

If you feel neglected by the current election format, I recommend you check out ways to implement real change. Here’s a Wiki page about the Single Transferable Vote. Maybe you’d like to talk to your MLA about backing something like STV.