Political Participation In Canada

For many political commentators, electronic voting will be the saviour of Canadian democracy as it will dramatically increase participation particularly among the Canadian youth. Since programs such as Netscape Navigator created a user-friendly interface making it easier for all to use, the internet has been one of this centuries’ most valued, innovative man-made creations. Canadians are online, performing daily tasks on a screen. Be it banking, making appointments, shopping, more and more Canadians are linked in. Canada continues to be one of the most ‘wired’ countries in the world with nearly 87 per cent of Canadian households connected to the internet. Canada ranks 16th globally in terms of Internet penetration in 2013. This is up from

At the same time as internet usage has increased, formal political participation has declined. In their Democracy Report #6 Samara makes note that just 50 years ago nearly 80% of Canadians voted in federal elections. In the 2011 Federal Election, voter turnout was at around 60%, and provincial and municipal turnouts were far lower. The most dramatic decline of political participation in Canada has occurred within the last 25 years. Samara measured political participation by combining six variables which were: Online Discussion, Off-line Discussion, Activism, Civic Engagement and Formal Engagement. While 55% of Canadians volunteer, only 10% volunteer in an election. 84% donate money to a charity or nonprofit, only 10% donate to political candidates or parties. Finally 58% of Canadians are active in a group or association, but only 10% are members of political parties. The result that truly informs this paper is that Samara found the younger cohort is participating at higher levels than the older cohort in nearly every area, except when it comes to formal

One important way that it does is in connection with participation inequality. The problem with an overall decline in voter turnout is that it is very unlikely to be uniform across major social categories. Instead, the drop is virtually certain to be accompanied by a widening disparity in participation rates, that is, an enhanced degree of inequality between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Such a disproportionate decline in voter turnout is particularly expected for groups such as young people, immigrants, tenants, and the poor; these are people who, of course, already participate at lower levels relative to those who are socially and economically better off. At the same time, arguably, the less well off are the ones who most need to vote. The real problem is that unevenness in electoral participation usually translates into distortions in representation and governmental response. That is, to the extent that participation matters, to the extent that the views of citizens are taken into account in the setting of policy priorities, then an important consequence of non-participation is the neglect of major interests. In Canadian politics as elsewhere, voices that are not heard are usually not