During one of my "Coffee & Ear" chats I was asked a rather direct question about my community involvement. Someone thought it cheeky that I should seek the nomination when my record of community involvement doesn't stack up compared to Lois Brown. This is a perfectly valid question to ask, and I am more than happy to answer it.
In truth, this point has been mentioned by a few people. The argument goes something like this: you should show that you have a record of long service in the community, that you have taken the time to volunteer, go to events, and generally participate in as many areas that you can. Therefore, when election time rolls around people can see that you are a committed citizen. Of course, this is a logical presumption, and I admit that some people will base their vote entirely upon the community involvement aspect of the candidate's C.V.
Sure, Ms. Brown has been active in the community for 26 years (I on the other hand am only 37 yrs. old and only moved here 8 years ago). But if community involvement precluded electoral victory, shouldn't Ms. Brown already be the elected MP? Clearly Ms. Brown wants her community involvement to be a large part of her campaign because she has taken the time to list all the events she has attended for the past year or so on her website. Does it matter that I have attended some of those events also?
I haven't voted for anyone based on community service. My vote was always based on the candidate's commitment to the democratic process, the ability to represent my concerns, the ideas, the passions, and yes, party affiliation.
Does the fact that Ms. Brown is a tireless community person invalidate my right to seek nomination? Does it make my ideas less relevant? Does it make my commitment to take the voices of the people to Ottawa immaterial? Does my promise to appoint a "citizen's advocate" become inconsequential because I didn't volunteer for x number of years? Does it mean I will not be an effective MP? Does it mean that the population at large will disqualify me at election time? No.
A more important question to ask is did Ms. Brown's community service earn her extra votes in the last election? The answer is an unequivocal no. By my calculations Ms. Brown was only able to raise the conservative vote count by a mere 558 over the 2004 results, while Ms. Stronach raised the Liberal vote by more than 6,000.
The election results do not bear out the assumption that community service translates into votes. Clearly, other factors were at play, and there is no reason to think that the upcoming election will be any different.
By no means am I questioning people's reasons for choosing one candidate over another. That isn't the point. But if we are going to have a serious discussion about why we should choose one candidate over another, then we should be free to scrutinize all the angles.
What matters most at election time is the candidate's relevance to the aspirations and needs of the people.
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