Why do you think there are such low voter turnouts in Canada?

Question

I'm doing a research paper on the relationship between the media and the government (federal), so some points to consider when answering:
- right when the Sponsorship Scandal was hit, Canada suffered the lowest turnout in history the 2004 election
- at this time the media ran stories about it very often; Sheila Fraser (the auditor-general) became a household name
- so can it be taken that the media's 'in-your-face' reporting made people tired of politics and voting?
- or are there other reasons to consider for the apathy of the masses?

Thanks for answering!

Answer 1

The media does several things to hinder the electoral process:
1. They spend too much effort telling us who will win before the election. People are less likely to vote if they believe the outcome is not in doubt.
2. They are too quick to label candidates. The candidates should be allowed to address issues without the baggage of being called a "hawk" or "left winger" or "environmentalist" or "Catholic". Let their words and actions speak for themselves.
3. They need to draw bigger walls between reporting and editorials. Bias will never be removed but it should be identified and controlled carefully.
4. More checks and balances against journalists should be employed. If they make errors, the retractions should be more prominent than error.
Journalism is an integral part of the process. It should meet high standards.

Answer 2

I think part of it has to to with slander campaigns.
I live in Ontario and we just had a provincial election; I do not remember seeing even one commercial on TV supporting a party's platform. All of the commercials were the Liberals bashing the conservatives or vice-versa. If BOTH of the big two are bad to vote for, then what do you do?
Considering the sponsorship scandal... perhaps many people would identify themselves as a liberal supporter, would never vote conservative, but did not want to support the liberals at that time.
It also may be a sense of "what difference does it make?". Any party that they vote in is just going to go back on its promises and the end point will be basically the same...

Answer 3

The most common excuse I got when people tell me they are not voting is... Oh, they are all the same. Politicians are only in it for themselves. It doesn't matter who gets in.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 4

Cause things in Canada are pretty good.