What kind of Albertan are you?
Of the more than 3.6 million people who call this province home, are you among the dwindling minority who are engaged, invested and concerned? In other words, are you among the 40.6 per cent of Albertans who voted in the last provincial election, in 2008?
Or are you among the nearly 60 per cent of eligible Alberta voters who didn’t bother to go to the polls in 2008? And if so, why haven’t you made the effort to become informed, and then use that knowledge to take part in the process?
Two earth-shifting elections have taken place in the history of this province.
And we may be on the cusp of another remarkable shift.
Whatever the outcome — affirming for Premier Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservatives or heralding a new era — it must be the work of a mobilized and committed voting public.
In 1935, the Social Credit swept into power, toppling the scandal-ridden United Farmers of Alberta. Every UFA candidate was defeated and the Socreds captured 56 of 63 seats in the legislature — and more than 50 per cent of the popular vote. Almost 88 per cent of eligible voters in Alberta cast ballots.
There were about 750,000 people living in the province in 1935, and they approached the process as if it mattered. Because it did — and still does.
In 1971, the moribund Socreds finally lost after 36 years in power. Peter Lougheed’s Progressive Conservatives won 49 of 75 seats (from six seats the previous election, in 1967, when they drew 26 per cent of the popular vote). The Socreds fell from 55 seats to 25. And the Tories took 46 per cent of the popular vote, to 41 per cent for the Socreds. In all, 71.9 per cent of eligible voters exercised their rights. There were 1.6 million people living in the province. Again, the process mattered.
But the population of this province has more than doubled since 1976, and grown by a third since 1993, by which time popular vote had fallen to 60.2 per cent.
In the almost 20 years since then, voter participation has steadily declined in every provincial election.
At 40.6 per cent (in 2008), Alberta voter turnout was the worst in the country, by province. In fact, we are the only province in the nation where fewer than half of all voters showed up at the polls in the last provincial election. Ontario, the next worst, was at almost 53 per cent. B.C. was at 62.4 per cent. Saskatchewan was at 76 per cent. And P.E.I., at the top of the pile, drew 83.8 per cent of eligible voters to the polls for the last provincial election.
Why do Albertans care so little? Or is that we are both trusting and satisfied to the point that voting is unimportant? Surely we are not so complacent and self-satisfied now.
There could be no better time to become an active participant. In the four weeks leading up to the April 23 vote, much will be said about the competency of the Conservatives, the quality of Wildrose, the Liberals, New Democrats and other alternatives, and the dynamics of leadership.
But it’s really about you, the voter: where do you want Alberta to go? What are your measuring sticks for the prosperity, stability and evolution of Alberta?
What kind of Albertans are you, and what kind of Alberta do you want?
We all need to make an investment in this province’s future and it starts at the polling booth.
John Stewart is the Advocate’s managing editor.