Do minorities in Canada know how to vote?

 I know that it may sound an odd question, with its answer laying high in the grass, but please humour me for a moment.  Can you, as a Canadian, having lived in Canada for any number of years truthfully describe the practicaland political differences between the Liberal Party, Conservatives, New Democratic Party, Le Bloq and the Green Party?  Can you really outline what each of these groups stand for?  During an election, each party presents a party leader who, if the party wins, will be a Premier or Prime Minister in this country for the next 4+ years.  We see these people on the television; hear them on the radio, read their quotes in the newspaper each day.  But can you really tell what they stand for?

Is it clear to the immigrant?  Is it clear to the new citizen that the pictures that sit on neibourhood lawns around town are of the local representative of the party leaders they see and hear about in the media? Is it clear to them that this person stands for all of the same practices and policies of the party and its leadership?  Is it enough that for a few weeks before an election that the “local” guy walks around kissing babies and shaking hands and doing little to gain public trust?

During the campaign in a riding which is predominately made up of minorities, the likelihood of the party leader to discuss issues that reflect their interests directly is slim.  Sure they will offer some discussion about job creation and an increase to the minimum wage but really, life for the minority community rarely changes the day after an election.  Rarely for the better.  So here they have a local representative whom for all intents and purposes they do not know, and when approached about their particular needs be it personal or community related, and do indeed voice their concerns, rarely do they hear the party leader mention these issues on television, radio, or in print. 

On Election Day however, we ask these communities to choose to vote for the candidate who best captured their imagination.  I say imagination because during an election each party makes a number of promises about what they will do for us once they get into office, new holidays, less taxes etc… When we know full well that the likelihood of those promises ever seeing the light of day is a gamble.  I mean, we are all still paying the GST.

Back to Election Day.  We ask these minority groups to vote for their local representative of their preferred party and watch change unfold. 

The reality is that especially within minority communities there’s a wave of voter apathy and despair concerning elections.  Most people don’t vote because they are struggling to earn a living, disinterested, or just plain don’t believe their vote will help them get jobs, improved access to health care, or lift them from the hard reality of poverty to a better life.  Some feel that their interests and agenda have been shut out of the political system.

And that is if they even know how to vote.  I come back to this question because I believe that it is an important question that needs to be understood.  In the United States there are extremely strong and historic ties to the democratic and Republic Parties.  Membership in those parties span generations within most voting families.  Party membership says something about you.  An African American man claiming the Republican Party would seem strange to some for example.  In Canada, especially for the immigrant population, I don’t believe that is very clear what the different party’s stand for and what as an immigrant you are getting from say a New Democratic Party government.

I recently got a call with a request to help and advise a local politician to reach the ethnic market within a particular riding.  I jumped at the opportunity.  As a marketing professional who specializes in brand development, here was a wonderful challenge.  Brand the politician with a twist. Do it in three weeks. 

But when looking at this issue from a practical standpoint, there really is little chance for long-term change with this effort.  It occurs to me, that if political parties really wanted to gain the ethnic vote on Election Day, that they would make a concerted effort to teach these groups what it really means to exercise the democratic process.  This is an effort that would likely begin in schools with students being engaged by mock political campaigns and elections, analysing the processes and procedures, holding mock debates encouraging the vote, counting the ballots and ultimately electing a winner.  Students who grow up with this practice will find it easier to do when it really matters.   The effort would then benefit by being more involved in the lives of the members of said community.

The reality is that in order to be successful in gaining the ethnic trust, and make no bones about it, this is about trust, politicians and political parties need to be seen to be a part of the community.  These groups are bright enough to know that every few years or so, when there’s an election some no name local official will ‘come a knocking’ looking for a vote, and if you’ve made the error of presenting yourselves as an outsider, that’s exactly how you will be treated.

These groups have a lot to say, in my opinion, but it is unlikely that they believe that anyone is listening.  If we begin to listen, we might be able to find local candidates who understand their needs and will speak about them with passion & empathy and gain the peoples trust.  If we have made ourselves a part of their community and made some effort to affect change in issues that they are concerned with, then they will come out to vote.  This is a process.  It will take time.  But in a country that is growing through immigration, it stands to reason that ethnic communities won’t be getting any smaller any time soon and that the need for more grassroots community based politics and politicians is growing.

This is where it must start in order to breed long-term trust in the system.  Unlike many Canadian homes, children in ethnic communities don’t often overhear parents discussing the merits of one political message over another.  So we need to teach these groups how to vote.