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Running for election in Canada is still all about canvassing … for now Running for election in Canada is still all about canvassing … for now
(2 days later)
It was a relief to discover that I enjoyed canvassing. I was worried that I would not, which would have made my first turn as a political candidate hell. Even for a fella who knows Canada and the city of Toronto well, knocking on doors was an unusual, thoughtful exercise – sometimes amusing, sometimes heartbreaking, but always illuminating. The memory is of diversity – of people actually wanting to talk – of lives conveyed in thick odours, doors rarely opened to strangers, and of knockers and doorbells seeming to be exclusively the property of the wealthy. The several people that complain, “the system is broken”, “too many people are given a free ride” or about unions, do so from behind the doors, warily ajar, of multi-million-dollar homes. The ones who complain of immigrants and the benefits they imagined accrued to newcomers are typically Canadians that had themselves arrived a generation ago and “built this country”.It was a relief to discover that I enjoyed canvassing. I was worried that I would not, which would have made my first turn as a political candidate hell. Even for a fella who knows Canada and the city of Toronto well, knocking on doors was an unusual, thoughtful exercise – sometimes amusing, sometimes heartbreaking, but always illuminating. The memory is of diversity – of people actually wanting to talk – of lives conveyed in thick odours, doors rarely opened to strangers, and of knockers and doorbells seeming to be exclusively the property of the wealthy. The several people that complain, “the system is broken”, “too many people are given a free ride” or about unions, do so from behind the doors, warily ajar, of multi-million-dollar homes. The ones who complain of immigrants and the benefits they imagined accrued to newcomers are typically Canadians that had themselves arrived a generation ago and “built this country”.
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If there has been a revelation, it was that the surprises have not been surprises: folk vote according to their class; vision is, by and large, gone. If ever there was a moment for a person to ask “not what your country can do for you, but …” it would be now, in Canada, such an accidentally, extraordinarily fortunate country.If there has been a revelation, it was that the surprises have not been surprises: folk vote according to their class; vision is, by and large, gone. If ever there was a moment for a person to ask “not what your country can do for you, but …” it would be now, in Canada, such an accidentally, extraordinarily fortunate country.
The wealth of the downtown Toronto riding in which I chose to run as a candidate for Canada’s New Democratic party was also a revelation. Prime Minister Stephen Harper aside, the Liberal and Conservative parties that have alternated in power for the nearly 150 years of Canada’s modern political existence are fairy indistinguishable beyond the fact of lawyers dominating the cadres of the first and businessmen the second. Each party has deep pockets and I should have presaged from the surprise the NDP expressed at my decision that Toronto-St Paul’s was going to be – what’s the word – a challenge.The wealth of the downtown Toronto riding in which I chose to run as a candidate for Canada’s New Democratic party was also a revelation. Prime Minister Stephen Harper aside, the Liberal and Conservative parties that have alternated in power for the nearly 150 years of Canada’s modern political existence are fairy indistinguishable beyond the fact of lawyers dominating the cadres of the first and businessmen the second. Each party has deep pockets and I should have presaged from the surprise the NDP expressed at my decision that Toronto-St Paul’s was going to be – what’s the word – a challenge.
Canadian campaigns have a spending limit of about $100,000, but this sum was doubled after Stephen Harper extended the 2015 campaign by a month. When my own started, the riding association had a whopping $350 in the bank. The Liberal party, incumbent for 18 years, had some $150,000 stashed, and the Conservatives $200,000 (the maximum expenditure allowed).Canadian campaigns have a spending limit of about $100,000, but this sum was doubled after Stephen Harper extended the 2015 campaign by a month. When my own started, the riding association had a whopping $350 in the bank. The Liberal party, incumbent for 18 years, had some $150,000 stashed, and the Conservatives $200,000 (the maximum expenditure allowed).
This meant that a strong social networks campaign of uncertain reach would be necessary, but more so that it was going to be vital to knock on doors, a cheap activity, in order to persuade voters in person. Thirty seconds at each, said the party, “though maybe double that because you’re new”. Even before discovering how hard it was to meet this standard, the math in the cityscape is daunting: 78,000 voters divided by 20-odd conversations every four hours of canvassing, at most three times a day, multiplied by x number of volunteers, hard to come by, over the campaign’s 78 days. The towers loomed – the condominiums of the aspirational that it was decided I should not waste my time in (“they watch television, they don’t know their neighbours”) and the social housing where the vote is more traditionally the NDP’s, “and people talk to each other”.This meant that a strong social networks campaign of uncertain reach would be necessary, but more so that it was going to be vital to knock on doors, a cheap activity, in order to persuade voters in person. Thirty seconds at each, said the party, “though maybe double that because you’re new”. Even before discovering how hard it was to meet this standard, the math in the cityscape is daunting: 78,000 voters divided by 20-odd conversations every four hours of canvassing, at most three times a day, multiplied by x number of volunteers, hard to come by, over the campaign’s 78 days. The towers loomed – the condominiums of the aspirational that it was decided I should not waste my time in (“they watch television, they don’t know their neighbours”) and the social housing where the vote is more traditionally the NDP’s, “and people talk to each other”.
At the door, the issues that come up are several. The Conservative party’s “muzzling of scientists” and general disregard for offending data; the environment; Canada’s system of healthcare that is the legacy of Tommy Douglas, one of the founding members of the NDP; the situation of First Nations; the status of women; Isis.At the door, the issues that come up are several. The Conservative party’s “muzzling of scientists” and general disregard for offending data; the environment; Canada’s system of healthcare that is the legacy of Tommy Douglas, one of the founding members of the NDP; the situation of First Nations; the status of women; Isis.
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But the most discussed issue of recent days has been the practice of “strategic voting”, pushed in particular by leadnow.ca. The advocacy organisation, seeking an “anyone but Harper” result, has been polling swing ridings and proactively advising constituents to vote for whomever is the candidate that, according to their data, is most likely to defeat the local Conservative.But the most discussed issue of recent days has been the practice of “strategic voting”, pushed in particular by leadnow.ca. The advocacy organisation, seeking an “anyone but Harper” result, has been polling swing ridings and proactively advising constituents to vote for whomever is the candidate that, according to their data, is most likely to defeat the local Conservative.
The impulse is presidential and American, if not subversive and anti-democratic, more than it is true to Canada’s Westminster system of parliamentary government. No matter that the NDP and Liberal party platforms, particularly with regard to the contemptible security bill C-51, are different, and that the polls and punditry on which such decisions depend are more often than not dramatically wrong.The impulse is presidential and American, if not subversive and anti-democratic, more than it is true to Canada’s Westminster system of parliamentary government. No matter that the NDP and Liberal party platforms, particularly with regard to the contemptible security bill C-51, are different, and that the polls and punditry on which such decisions depend are more often than not dramatically wrong.
And this phenomenon has contributed to the fact of Canada becoming a country obsessed with polls. We have polls, and now (as with threehundredeight.com) polls of polls.And this phenomenon has contributed to the fact of Canada becoming a country obsessed with polls. We have polls, and now (as with threehundredeight.com) polls of polls.
Exit polls are illegal here until the voting is complete across Canada’s time zones (spanning three and a half hours, from coast to coast), and now there is a bona fide argument for extending that ban through the weeks before election day. The effect of this abundance of dubious information acting as its own catalyst has been that the political conversation has become, like most others on the internet, perversely in favour of one outcome, as folk wanting to be seen to be in the know chase the herd. The nebulous feeling is that we are on the cusp of an altered democratic era, but that we have not quite come to terms with the mechanisms of change driving it. Exit polls are illegal here until the voting is complete across Canada’s time zones (spanning four and a half hours, from coast to coast), and now there is a bona fide argument for extending that ban through the weeks before election day. The effect of this abundance of dubious information acting as its own catalyst has been that the political conversation has become, like most others on the internet, perversely in favour of one outcome, as folk wanting to be seen to be in the know chase the herd. The nebulous feeling is that we are on the cusp of an altered democratic era, but that we have not quite come to terms with the mechanisms of change driving it.
And behind the discomfort are always the towers, always the math. The old ways are not yet caving and the new is still unknown.And behind the discomfort are always the towers, always the math. The old ways are not yet caving and the new is still unknown.
Until it is, the candidate canvasses early and canvasses hard.Until it is, the candidate canvasses early and canvasses hard.
• This article was amended on 19 October 2015. An earlier version said Canada’s time zones spanned three and and a half hours. That has been corrected to four and a half.