In case you’ve missed all the attack ads on television, the partisan party-coloured announcements about the Universal Child Care Benefit earlier this week or the love-in / hate-in (depending on which colours you wear) of the various political parties, Canada is gearing up for a federal election in October.
Are you registered to vote? Do you know what to do to find out whether you’re registered or not?
People are getting their information differently these days, whether it be from the Internet, Facebook, Twitter or other forms of social media, and more traditional forms like newspapers, radio and television.
In the last federal election, in 2011, 65,638 people voted in the Nanaimo-Alberni riding, about 4,000 more than those that voted in the 2008 election. The numbers were quite low for the riding.
This year some of the ridings on Vancouver Island have been re-organized and Alberni Valley voters will be voting in the new riding of Courtenay-Alberni.
That means a host of new candidates’ names to learn, and new ideology too, as both candidates and voters will be coming from a different region.
It’s even more important to educate yourself before this year’s election, which ever form you choose for dissemination.
The first step, though, is to make sure you’re registered.
You can go online to www.elections.ca and click on the voter registration link to check, and to register if you’re not.
Every vote will make a difference.
— Alberni Valley News