My phone has been ringing off the hook with electioneers asking for my support.
Okay, I’m dating myself because it has been at least seventy years since we had that telephone box hanging on the wall in the living room. Yes, Elizabeth, phones in my youth had a separate receiver and speaker; the receiver hung by a hook on the side of the box that contained Alexander Bell’s wires and batteries. And truth to be told, I never did see it ring off the hook but mother did remove it from its hook during a lightning storm – why, I never did know.
Anyway, my phone has been buzzing around the coffee table like a bug on its back with calls from the election people.
I got a call from my very own MPP that started out with the voice saying “I am not a robot”. That Vic always was a kidder. So far, the calls from the Cons, Libs and NDP have just been asking for my support, not my money. As I say to the polling people, I am undecided who will get my ‘X’. I figure that will keep them all on their toes, out there in the hustings, looking for votes.
Now there is a word you can only use every four years or so: hustings.
I was seriously thinking of making a tax-deductible monetary political donation this year. The plan was to give that licence plate sticker bribe to the Liberals or the NDP. Sort of an ironic gesture, but this inflation at the grocery stores and gas pumps has used it all. There is nothing left.
Maybe this inflation thing is not the fault of the politicians, but if not them, who? The Russians? The Chinese? The Americans? Maybe it is just the manipulation of the stock markets as my brother says. Anyway, the politicians are out of luck looking for anything but my vote.
Truth to be told, I am becoming just a little jaded at this whole voting/politician thing. Not to the point where I felt like hopping on my motorcycle and going to Ottawa last weekend but getting there. Living out here in the hinterland, our vote in Nipissing/Temiskaming or Nipissing/Parry Sound or whomever we are paired with to get the numbers up, counts very little when there is a nest full of ridings in the GTA or southern Ontario. Even if we did end up, by some fluke, holding the balance of power, the Toronto-centric political party would try to win back a seat in the south, not build a bridge in the north to keep us in the fold. It is all about holding power by the numbers, not what is best for society.
The Federal election perhaps gives the rural vote a little more attention but even then, the election is won or lost in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Maybe add Ottawa just because it is the capital of the country. Perhaps if we had some type of proportional voting system, we could feel a little more involved. Thank the heavens we have a municipal election coming this fall.
Just think of the robocalls we will get. Shucks, we might even know some of the voices. The nice thing is we will be able to vote from home this time. I’m a little concerned that some robots will vote – I mean, if they can call you on the telephone they might know how to vote online. Time to worry about that later.
Too bad I used all my plate sticker money and have none left to give to our local municipal candidates.
Of course, lawn signs will be a no-no, but we could put a sign in the window. So and So for mayor. This already has me guessing what So and So will be running for the high office in North Bay. Al already made a pre-election promise not to run again and I suspect with his baggage he will honour that promise.
It is the baggage that we will have to watch for in the candidates for office: the Casino is running and redistributing local wealth; Cassellholme is underway; and heaven forbid, the arena in the swamp may be confirmed by October. However, how the current members of council supported all of the above may return as baggage when they seek re-election. Once this Provincial election is over, I hope our local candidates announce their intentions so we have time to inspect their credentials – and baggage.
I read the other day that the fellow who is the grand poohbah at Cassellholme is leaving in September. I do not recall what he planned to do but he is used to rubbing shoulders (sometimes the wrong way) with politicians and his name might fit somewhere on a ballot.
The on-line municipal electronic ballot will have a first question that is new this time: Are you a robot? Not yet, I’ll say.
