Ominous sign

“Election fever” has been painfully lacking in Rainy River District so far this campaign—with no more glaring example being the dreadful turnout at the Civic Centre last night for the all-candidates’ debate hosted by the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce.
Less than 30 people were on hand, and the majority of those already were affiliated with a particular candidate. In other words, very few “ordinary” voters took the time to hear the four men vying to capture Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding outline their positions on the serious issues facing Northwestern Ontario, in particular, and our country as a whole.

Has everyone already decided how they’re going to vote on Oct. 14? Or, more ominously, has voter apathy sunk to such a low that we’ll be lucky to get a 50 percent turnout at the polls this time around?
Years ago here, all-candidates’ debates would have packed the arena auditorium or high school gymnasium in a charged atmosphere befitting the importance of choosing our next representative in the House of Commons or at Queen’s Park. These days, however, we can’t even fill the 60 or so seats in council chambers.
Where has all the passion and emotion gone?
It’s true there may be a case of “voter fatigue” out there given this is our third federal election in four-and-a-half years. As well, local voters may not expect to hear a lot of new things since three of the four candidates—Liberal incumbent Ken Boschoff, NDP hopeful John Rafferty, and the Green’s Russ Aegard—all ran in both 2004 and 2006, with Conservative Richard Neumann being the lone newcomer to the race in 2008.
Yet there doesn’t seem to be much excitement at the national level, either. As of late this morning, 41 percent of the 179 responses to the Fort Frances Times’ weekly web poll said the U.S. election was grabbing more of their attention, with the Canadian one well back at 25 percent. In fact, “neither” was in second place at 34 percent.
And the general consensus among those who did attend last night’s all-candidates’ forum here indicated more people will tune in to tomorrow night’s vice-presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin than will watch the English-language debate featuring our five party leaders.
How sad is that?
Clearly the challenge our political parties face, no matter who wins on Oct. 14, is how to inspire voters again. At the same time, voters need to make the time and effort to re-engage in the election process—and take seriously once again the solemn responsibility of guiding the future of our country.