By Erin Conway-Smith
The election campaign in Ottawa Centre should, by all accounts, be a battle royal among the five candidates vying to represent the people.
This isn’t lofty idealism. Just look at the riding: Since 1966, it’s been a game of musical chairs between the Liberals and New Democrats. The NDP has held the riding for 21 of the last 37 years.
But in 1999, the Progressive Conservatives replaced the NDP as runner-up. Liberal Richard Patten edged Ray Kostuch, the Tory candidate, by only 2,500 votes. NDP candidate Elisabeth Arnold ran an unexpectedly weak third. The results on Oct. 2 are again expected to be close.
Candidates aside, there’s no shortage of issues to inspire voters.
The blackout that darkened most of Ontario this summer made power a pressing issue — though strangely, not in this campaign. This is also the first election since Premier Mike Harris handed the reigns of government to Ernie Eves, leaving massive changes to education and health care in his wake.
It should be a close race, with compelling issues — but where’s the drama? This election looks good on paper, but so far is utterly devoid of the passion needed to inspire voters.
And inspiration is sorely needed. Voter turnout in Ontario has steadily declined over the past few decades, and only 58.3 per cent voted in the 1999 election.
Some leaders in Centretown point to a faulty connection between what happens in Queen’s Park and the tangible results for residents in their day-to-day lives.
Gerry LePage, executive director of the Bank Street Promenade, is concerned about the lack of engagement between candidates and citizens.
“It’s an absolute imperative that we talk about local issues,” he says. In the case of LePage’s group, what matters is safety, security and economic development for Bank Street. But LePage says he hasn’t had a chance to pose the questions that concern him: “We really haven’t heard too much from candidates.”
Sue Lott, president of the Centretown Citizens’ Community Association, notes that attention is given mainly to party leaders , not to individual candidates and the specific needs of the area they are running to represent.
“It’s very hard for these types of campaigns that are so leader-focused, so personality focused, to address community issues.”
Besides the usual door-to-door canvassing, Lott says there have been few events at which people can meet the candidates. All-candidates meetings haven’t been well-publicized.
At a debate at Carleton University last week, four of the five candidates — Patten sent his fresh-faced campaign manager instead — answered questions that almost exclusively concerned rising tuition fees.
The highlight was the Green party’s Chris Bradshaw, who gave intelligent, focused answers in contrast to other candidate’s often clichéd responses. Bradshaw came a distant fourth in the last election, but had more votes than any other Green candidate in Ontario — a tribute to Ottawa Centre’s leftist tendencies.
But students are only a part of this diverse riding that stretches from Parliament Hill to Westboro since electoral boundaries were re-drawn in 1999. Ottawa Centre now encompasses well-to-do areas and poor areas, and a large number of elderly people, plus some 27,000 immigrants.
Despite the diversity of the riding, the 1999 election was just as dull. It was a close race with issues worth caring about, such as school closures and health care cuts, but the campaign was a dud.
The problem seems to be systemic. During provincial election campaigns, all eyes are focused on the leaders. And the leaders aren’t doing a whole lot — consider the hottest issue of the campaign thus far has been allegations that Dalton McGuinty eats kittens.
The party leaders aren’t captivating. Candidates aren’t making enough of an effort to connect with people at the community level.
No wonder people don’t care.