In the upcoming election, people tend to care about a small handful of people when deciding their votes: the party leaders.
There are some individuals who are seeking a seat who can be a little rough around the edges, both the Liberals and Conservatives have dropped candidates who have made controversial statements and there are calls for more to bow out of the race.
That's pretty depressing, especially when people who have troubling views are likely to win because voters care about the party leader more than their local candidates.
And honestly that's fair, our system doesn't really give individual MPs the chance to be that effective when they are in parliament, power tends to be centralized with the party leaders. There are going to be problematic people who are elected and maybe they stay relatively quiet, maybe they make things difficult and get booted from their party.
We always hear about the controversial, the problematic, the bad candidates because when it happens it's important that people know about them. The one I always remember is the candidate in 2015 who was booted from his party after a hidden camera caught him urinating in a mug in a customer's home while he was working as an appliance repair technician. People have to know about candidates like that because it's important to know how strong a candidate's judgment skills are when you go to vote.
But there are 343 seats across Canada up for grabs. One of my best friends is running in one of those seats, who, where, with which party isn't what matters here. What does matter is he is a truly incredible person, easily the most passionate person about his city I've ever met and genuinely, deeply cares about his community. And I think most people who cast a ballot in the race whether for him or someone else, will have no clue how amazing he'd be representing them.
Across the country there are hundreds of people running just like that. When I heard my friend was running I thought about how all across the country there are probably people just like him, extremely capable and passionate people but nobody except the people closest to them will know just how much they care.
We don't hear about some of the incredible candidates who seek office because honestly, there are a lot of them. Parties like to run good people who are passionate about their communities and who aren't going to be embarrassments.
We don't tend to hear about the community activist who has pushed for expanded mental health care, the firefighter who dedicated their life to helping others, the nurse who saves lives and is trying to improve our healthcare system or the new parent whose biggest goal is to make a better Canada for their child.
Vote how you want to vote, based on what matters to you. Vote strategically if that's what you want to do, spoil your ballot if you don't like any of your options, vote your conscience even if you feel like your vote won't change anything. But I would encourage everyone to get to know their candidates, try to meet them if they have an event and go into it with a genuine curiosity of wanting to learn more about the people who want to represent you.
And above all else, don't be unnecessarily mean to candidates because you don't like their party. Don't deface signs, don't try to troll them online, don't slam the door in their face while they're canvassing your neighbourhood.
You can register to vote at Elections.ca. Election day is April 28 but advance polls are open April 18 to April 21 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
