Another reason could be that they person you vote for and elect can, for their own personal reasons, change your vote to a different party by crossing the floor.
David, you write in part, "The loudest message we can take from the silence of millions of eligible voters is that they don’t seem to trust the system."
I voted in absolutely every election for which I was eligible (federal, provincial and municipal) from the late sixties up until the 2021 federal election when I refused to vote as I felt all party leaders were making promises against the interests of my province, Alberta. I have started voting again but I do understand that sometimes the parties are all making promises that are distinctly antithetical to what one believes.
Further, our damned pols endlessly make promises that they have no intention of keeping and/or make claims about things that are absolutely untrue.
I expect strongly that I will vote in the next federal election but I fully understand folks who feel alienated from the process.
Then, of course, the argument about "my vote doesn't matter;" the argument that "my impact of my vote is so much less than all those people in PEI [or wherever];" and the various other logical and, let us not forget, illogical arguments.
The behavior of our elected representatives who get elected and then go back on the party allegiance that they offered ever so (not whatsoever) seriously certainly is corrosive to believing in the system. Just liars, ever so many of them. These ne'er do wells give such a dirty picture that stains those many serious politicians that so many of us are unsure of whom to trust so we distrust all.
And I consider myself not cynical! Is the low voter turnout any surprise?
I neglected to note that another of the corrosive attitudes of our worsers - they damned well aren't our betters - is to say one thing in one part of the country and the opposite in another part of the country or to say one thing in English and the opposite in French.
A very recent example of this very thing is our current Prime Minister who was all smiles when he signed his meaningless (if you read it, you will understand) Memorandum of Understanding with Alberta; he was talking about how it would lead to a pipeline, increased oil production, etc. Then, he went back to Otterwer and had a chin wag with his environmental caucus and made it clear to those very important folk (unlike we bumpkins in Alberta) that the MOU had all sorts of off ramps and impediments (it very much does) and, as a result, the MOU was meaningless political clap trap (he was telling the truth there). The point is, you just cannot trust so many of our politicians, so, again, where is the surprise when folks don't bother voting?
While I understand that some discontent exists, I spend a lot of time working through how I should vote. None of the many options that exist provide a perfect choice. However, I make sure I vote and always have. Also, people can participate by working to influence the parties through research to understand issues that are important to them.
Between the obvious symptoms of end-stage democracy (bankrupt welfare state in transition to tyranny), a corrupted media that is existentially motivated to ensure LPC hegemony, institutional capture, honestly in candidates precluding electability, population replacement, an invigorated and actively inverting apartheid swimming in a rent seekers orgy of lawfare, and an electorate that votes on the mindless tropes such as "Just Society, Sunny ways, and elbows up", it's easy to see why people might decide that "voting just encourages them".
I suspect that first past the post systems leave many voters as orphans. I believe part of the reason that Trump was elected is precisely the two party first past the post system in the US.
That Angus Reid poll showing 36 percent as political orphans sticks with me. Elections Canada clocked 69.5 percent turnout in the 2025 vote. Still, those non-voters dwarf most party bases. I read Hansard transcripts where committees skip middle ground talks on policy. One party that reaches them might control the House for years. Strange how this power stays on the bench.
Another reason could be that they person you vote for and elect can, for their own personal reasons, change your vote to a different party by crossing the floor.
We’re about to find out to our detriment should Carney get a majority exactly how destructive the elite thing can and will be to Canada.
David, you write in part, "The loudest message we can take from the silence of millions of eligible voters is that they don’t seem to trust the system."
I voted in absolutely every election for which I was eligible (federal, provincial and municipal) from the late sixties up until the 2021 federal election when I refused to vote as I felt all party leaders were making promises against the interests of my province, Alberta. I have started voting again but I do understand that sometimes the parties are all making promises that are distinctly antithetical to what one believes.
Further, our damned pols endlessly make promises that they have no intention of keeping and/or make claims about things that are absolutely untrue.
I expect strongly that I will vote in the next federal election but I fully understand folks who feel alienated from the process.
Then, of course, the argument about "my vote doesn't matter;" the argument that "my impact of my vote is so much less than all those people in PEI [or wherever];" and the various other logical and, let us not forget, illogical arguments.
The behavior of our elected representatives who get elected and then go back on the party allegiance that they offered ever so (not whatsoever) seriously certainly is corrosive to believing in the system. Just liars, ever so many of them. These ne'er do wells give such a dirty picture that stains those many serious politicians that so many of us are unsure of whom to trust so we distrust all.
And I consider myself not cynical! Is the low voter turnout any surprise?
I neglected to note that another of the corrosive attitudes of our worsers - they damned well aren't our betters - is to say one thing in one part of the country and the opposite in another part of the country or to say one thing in English and the opposite in French.
A very recent example of this very thing is our current Prime Minister who was all smiles when he signed his meaningless (if you read it, you will understand) Memorandum of Understanding with Alberta; he was talking about how it would lead to a pipeline, increased oil production, etc. Then, he went back to Otterwer and had a chin wag with his environmental caucus and made it clear to those very important folk (unlike we bumpkins in Alberta) that the MOU had all sorts of off ramps and impediments (it very much does) and, as a result, the MOU was meaningless political clap trap (he was telling the truth there). The point is, you just cannot trust so many of our politicians, so, again, where is the surprise when folks don't bother voting?
While I understand that some discontent exists, I spend a lot of time working through how I should vote. None of the many options that exist provide a perfect choice. However, I make sure I vote and always have. Also, people can participate by working to influence the parties through research to understand issues that are important to them.
Between the obvious symptoms of end-stage democracy (bankrupt welfare state in transition to tyranny), a corrupted media that is existentially motivated to ensure LPC hegemony, institutional capture, honestly in candidates precluding electability, population replacement, an invigorated and actively inverting apartheid swimming in a rent seekers orgy of lawfare, and an electorate that votes on the mindless tropes such as "Just Society, Sunny ways, and elbows up", it's easy to see why people might decide that "voting just encourages them".
I suspect that first past the post systems leave many voters as orphans. I believe part of the reason that Trump was elected is precisely the two party first past the post system in the US.
That Angus Reid poll showing 36 percent as political orphans sticks with me. Elections Canada clocked 69.5 percent turnout in the 2025 vote. Still, those non-voters dwarf most party bases. I read Hansard transcripts where committees skip middle ground talks on policy. One party that reaches them might control the House for years. Strange how this power stays on the bench.