Oh sweet... another election

Hey Canada, we're having another federal election! Do you know who you're voting for?

Cause I don't.

Don't worry, I'm not going to use my blog to tell you who I think you should vote for (unlike most bloggers). And I won't lie, I'm not the most educated on the subject of Canadian politics. But I do know that voter apathy is an issue among Canada's youth, so here I am, a Canadian youth, offering my voice on the situation.

In the past, I have worked towards fighting the good fight against voter apathy - by proudly casting my ballot and encouraging my peers to do so as well. However, I'm just about ready to wave my white flag.

First of all, I'm starting to feel like Canada has an election as regularly as a healthy woman's menstrual cycle. Of course I'm exaggerating, but it seems as though the past few elections have costed millions of dollars and much of our precious time while the results have always been similar. I'm getting this kind of "my vote won't change anything" kind of vibe from people, and to be honest, I'm feeling that attitude too.

Secondly, the candidates don't appeal to us. I don't know if they even try to relate to us. In America, politicians will appear on Saturday Night Live... if the Canadian government wants young people to vote, they need to step up their game. Maybe a whole bunch of famous Canadians can get together and make inspirational videos about how important it is to vote! Imagine: A PSA featuring Justin Bieber explaining how important democracy is, followed by an acoustic rendition of one of his songs. He could even change the lyrics to baby, baby, baby, vooooooote! But you know what, this would probably never work because everyone would probably just vote for whichever candidate doesn't have Nickelback's vote. But you know what I mean. Appeal to the youth.

And lastly, and the most frustrating part for me is the fact that none of the candidates are trustworthy. I mean, I usually like at least one major candidate more than the others, but not so much this time. We've got Stephen Harper, a man who can't even be honest enough to admit the fact that his hair is fake; Michael Ignatieff, a man who calls for an election even though he's slipping in the polls; and Jack Layton, who reminds me of a guy that might drive a white van and hang around elementary schools (that's probably not true at all, but he does creep me out and I know I'm not the only one). And then we have Elizabeth May, who I don't know too much about, other than the fact that there's virtually no chance of her party ever rising to power.

So there we are with my theories on why young people seem to not care about Canadian politics. Facetiousness aside, I'm definitely becoming worried about the future state of our country (and the rest of the world, really). I'm concerned that none of the above choices will be progressive ones. Maybe it's not too late for Mayor Naheed Nenshi to start a campaign?