I know I speak for many when I note it’s been difficult to look away from the daily outrages occurring just south of the border. 

Wait, border? What border? 

That Hudson Bay might be the next up for ridicule, and called the Bay of America on Google Maps, is unnerving. 

We are witnessing the rapid, ruthless, and terrifying dismantling of one of the world’s great democracies. Thousands of civil service professionals have been turfed from their jobs. Millions more have been told their services are no longer required. Around the world, from Mexico and Panama to Gaza and Africa, medicines have been stopped, funding and care for the most precarious human lives abruptly and illegally cut off. 

Canadian sovereignty is also under threat. The rules of the international order, we are being told, no longer matter. Steep tariffs are about to be imposed, the first salvos in what the US has informed us will be an economic war, waged with the goal of bringing us to our knees.

Like Greenland, Canada has precious electric battery minerals there for the taking.

One of the world’s great powers is turning on us. Fast. 

What to do. The first impulse has been to take cover: turn inward, protect what we have — and stop taking it for granted. A Buy Local campaign is just getting started. I hope it will have consequences that extend beyond choosing Black Diamond over Kraft. 

Supporting local, the communities where we live, has always been important, yet various forces, from big box stores to Airbnbs to Amazon deliveries, have chipped away at the quality of life in small communities just as they have in big urban centers. 

Supporting local might mean intentionally taking a step back in time. Before an American-made internet took over our minds. Think of all the words for the way we live now: in silos and bubbles, hived off, remote, anxious and distracted, alone in a place where things go ping in the night. This is how the internet age affects our minds, lives, and relationships. No wonder everybody is looking for “mindfulness.” 

So: let us attend to the here and now. The immediate issue is the local election. 

There was an All Candidates Meeting in Wellington last week. NDP candidate Amanda Robertson opened her remarks by noting, “Queen’s Park is not hearing our voices.” Her approach has been consistent. She stresses the disconnect between what communities most need — health care, education, social services — and the current Premier’s agenda, which delivers big money projects — a tunnel underneath the 401? — to developers. 

She highlights instead people and the work they do. She noted, for example, the powerful impact shopping local could have on a community. If every family in Ontario spent just another $10 a week on local produce, she said, it would add $2.4 billion to the local economy every year, create jobs, and support farmers. 

“Every purchase you make that supports local businesses and farmers protects the local economy, grows it, and supports employment,” she stressed.

She won over the Gazette team that evening. She has our vote. Judging from the response of the 150 or so people in attendance, we were not alone in our assessment that she is the candidate for the County. 

Yet we are all facing another four years of Premier Ford. How does he keep winning? Well, let’s look at the dynamics of our own riding, which is the only one we have any say over. 

In the September by-election that elected Conservative MPP Tyler Allsopp, only 38 percent of eligible voters actually voted: 37,298 of 97,016.

Mr. Allsopp received 14,430 votes (38 percent). That’s a higher percentage of votes than the next candidate (Liberal Sean Kelly, who got 12,428 or 33 percent). But it represents a mandate from only 15 percent of voters.

Nor was this pathetic turnout unusual. The 2022 provincial election saw the lowest voter turnout in its history: 43.5 percent. Municipal elections across Ontario that year had the lowest turnout since 1982: 36 percent. 

Just for reference, a very good voter turnout is over 60%. Excellent voter turnout is closer to 80%. 

If you believe in democracy, it isn’t about who you vote for. It’s about casting your vote. 

While it is possible that people are not voting because they like things just fine the way they are, an ear to the ground suggests otherwise. Residents are very upset about the lack of support for healthcare, “hallway medicine,” and the shortage of doctors and nurses. They care about the lack of infrastructure funding, the weakening of the public education system, and the affordable housing crisis — never mind Ford’s ending of rent control on new buildings.

Another culprit is our electoral system. Tyler Allsopp received 14,430 votes. Between them, the NDP, Liberals and Greens received 22,200. Almost twice as many. The Liberal candidate came very close to defeating Mr. Allsopp. He was just 2000 votes short. On the other hand, at polling stations across the Bay of Quinte in 2024, the NDP and Liberal candidates split the vote evenly between them. The Greens siphoned off a few more. 

There are movements afoot to “unite the left,” asking voters to choose one of the three more progressive candidates in each riding and unite behind them. It seems one of the only ways the progressive vote might succeed. This strategy involves a choice both tough and unlikely, however. I don’t see a mass movement toward any one candidate. 

To make matters worse, one of the groups that advocates for this unifying strategy, Cooperate for Canada, says we should vote NDP in the Bay of Quinte. Another, SmartVoting, says we should all vote Liberal. 

Right. 

I can’t put this any more clearly. The most important thing to do is to vote. Sure, try to rally around the one candidate you think has the best chance of winning over others. That’s tricky, but in the Bay of Quinte that might be Amanda Robertson. I note that Progress Belleville has also endorsed both Ms. Robertson and the NDP as having the best chance this time out. Save for the by-election of 2024, the NDP is a good bet here. It was second place in both the 2018 and 2022 Ontario elections. It’s challenging the longstanding PC hegemony.

The absolutely best strategy, though, is to get out and vote. 

As Trump’s win is making painfully clear all around the world, democracy is fragile. Even the most stable, taken-for-granted democracies are under serious stress. I am, frankly, wondering if the United States is going to have another free and safe election anytime soon. 

Let’s do our bit to keep democracy thriving here. You want to support local? Vote local.