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17 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,June 16,2022 w aterloochronicle.ca 519-886-2558 25 Benjamin Road - St. jacoBS outlet mall OUTLET And So Much More Come Early For The Best Selection SAvE Up To 70% SToRE CLoSING EvERYTHING MUST Go ALL SUITS ANd SpoRT JACkETS 50% oFF oR MoRE SpoRT SHIRTS FRoM oNLY $19.99 BRANd NAME pANTS ANd dENIM FRoM $39.99 dRESS SHIRTS FRoM $29.99 "Democracy is the worst form of government -- ex- cept for all the others that have been tried from time to time." The famous quote from Winston Churchill, now 75 years old, is not as cynical as it appears on the surface- . Taken in the context of Churchill's entire speech to the House of Commons in 1947, the former British prime minister was convey- ing the notion democracy is an ideal to be cherished. If we cherish our modern democracy, we best set our- selves to the task of ensur- ing more people remain en- gaged in it. There are, no doubt, several plausible ex- planations as to why voter turnout in the recent pro- vincial election was histori- cally low. The most likely reason is simply fatigue. While there's still some debate over whether we've pushed through COVID-19 or are still enduring it, the past two-plus years have felt as much a political crisis as a public health crisis. Elect- ed leaders have never been more forward-facing, pro- viding updates on public health measures and steering us through un- charted waters. Their decisions were not universally popular and while you might think that would encourage a strong enough voter turnout to change the government in power, it appears the oppo- site was true. We've grown weary of politics and, as the weather turns nicer and CO- VID cases subside, don't want to invest any more time on politics even if that is just the time it takes to cast a ballot. It certainly doesn't help we just went through an election nine months ago, which changed virtually nothing in our parliament. This time around, polls indicated Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives would handily win govern- ment again. So why bother casting another ballot to af- fect little change in leader- ship? Of course we can't be dis- missive of the idea, when less than half of eligible vot- ers actually take the time to vote, we're simply not en- thused by our options. Many have argued low voter turnout favours Con- servatives, but what does it say about the alternatives? The Liberals failed to reach official party status for a second consecutive election, the NDP lost about 25 per cent of its seats from four years earlier, and the Greens failed to increase their number of seats de- spite having a clear opportu- nity in Parry Sound-Musko- ka. It's almost as though the political left couldn't even be motivated to get out the vo- te. Whatever the case, we now have another "majority government" to lead us de- spite earning less than 50 per cent of the overall votes cast. This outcome is not unique to this election or the Conservative party. This outcome is almost assured, election after election, thanks to our first-past-the- post electoral system. There seems to be little appetite to change the sys- tem in the immediate fu- ture, so the onus rests on us. The least we can do is en- gage a little more earnestly in the democracy we do have. I shudder to think we don't know enough about it -- or care enough about it -- to try a little harder. Columnist Mike Farwell is a broadcaster, MC and advocate. Follow him on Twitter at @farwell_WR, or connect with him via Mike.Farwell@rci.rog- ers.com. LOW ELECTION VOTER TURNOUT A SHAME A vote sign sits outside RIM Park in May for advance voting. Mathew McCarthy/Waterloo Region Record OPINION IF WE CHERISH OUR MODERN DEMOCRACY, WE BEST SET OURSELVES TO THE TASK OF ENSURING MORE PEOPLE REMAIN ENGAGED IN IT, WRITES MIKE FARWELL MIKE FARWELL Column