The Ontario Provincial Election has been called for Thursday, February 27th. It was not scheduled to be held until June 2026, making it a snap election in the dead of winter. Very much Not Ideal.
But this is what we’ve got.
The voter turnout of the last provincial election in 2022 was an abysmal 43.5%, the lowest it has ever been. At the time I was living at home while off from university for the summer, only really knowing about the election because of my parents’ incessant need to have the news on at every waking hour. It was only my second time voting, and I was excited that I could have a say in what landscape my adulthood was starting in. However, I couldn’t feel more out of place at the voting booth, where I awkwardly waited for my turn in an elementary school gym surrounded by middle-aged parents.
Unsurprisingly, incumbent Premier Ford wasn’t concerned about this low turnout, telling the press that the province made a strong decision in his favour. 43%.
Cynicism towards politics is a very real feeling, and it’s warranted. With constantly being inundated with the news cycle through social media, witnessing the contempt that’s brewing in social discourse, and spiraling while thinking about your parents’ spending power at your age compared to your own, things aren’t looking too good. I believe the predominant reason why no one is voting is because of political (or voter) apathy, in which people aren’t interested in participating in elections due to feeling alienated from the system at large. I am one person in the cog of democracy, and my individual vote will not change anything about my material reality.
You know what? Yeah. We are cogs in the wheel of western imperialism and late-stage capitalistic greed. But it is nonsensical to view a collective institution through an individualistic lens.
We will always lose by choosing to be checked out. An ignorant population allows elected governments to slack, having free reign to enact legislation that they know will go unchecked. There is an incentive to have election cycles that span less than a month, to parade around with hollow gimmicks and to flood the media with insidious culture war talking points that distract us from what matters. Showing up to vote and being engaged in politics not only forces our leaders to stand in their decisions, but provides us with agency over our present and future.
The political decisions made at the provincial and municipal level play a large role in our day-to-day lives, despite often being overshadowed by the federal level in societal discussion. The province is in control of extremely pressing realms, such as health care, civil rights, education, transportation, the administration of justice and childcare.
We can’t sit on our hands and wait for change, we must be active participants in bringing it about.
Polls will be open on election day from 9am to 9pm. You can view your closest polling station here.
Love this! Having an election in the middle of winter and only having a month of campaigning certainly is a way to disengage voters. At the same time some politicians focusing on problems that are “trending” in social media is a lazy attempt to get votes to come their way while ignoring the actual problems. We have the power to make change, we need to put in the effort to do so!
Great piece Melissa!:)