By María-Lucía Castillo
If anyone should be annoyed by an election campaign over Christmas, it’s probably Santa Claus. After all, he’s the one who has to compete with politicians for the public’s attention. But a Christmas campaign doesn’t bother him at all.
“I don’t think it will in any way detract from the spirit of the season,” Santa says while waiting calmly at Billings Bridge Plaza for the next eager child to hop onto his lap for a picture.
Santa, who bares a striking resemblance to retired Bell Canada employee Al Page, says he hasn’t received any letters from candidates yet.
“What they usually ask for is to make sure they have sufficient votes to at least get their nomination fee back,” says Santa.
André Turcotte, a professor at Carleton University who specializes in political communication and behaviour, says he can’t imagine a Christmas campaign will have a positive impact on voter turnout.
“Canadians have problems finding time to concentrate on campaigns to begin with,” says Turcotte. “The election will be the last thing on their mind during the Christmas break.”
Voter negativity toward all political parties will be the dominant factor affecting turnout in the upcoming winter election, says Jon Pammett, a political science professor at Carleton University.
The big question is: which party benefits most from an early winter election?
“A low turnout election would be to the advantage of the government, that is, the people who are incumbents,” Pammett says.
Canada has experienced a downward trend in voter turnout since 1993. That year, turnout was pegged at 70 percent. In 1997, that number fell 3 percentage points to 67 per cent, and in 2000, the turnout fell by the same figure to 64 per cent.
“It’s quite likely that the turnout will be lower this time,” Pammett says.
Luring voters in a chilly winter campaign will be a tough task for politicians. Both Turcotte and Pammett say this campaign will be more media-based than it would have been had the election been held off until the spring.
But for many Ottawa Centre residents, December is not a holiday season, so it doesn’t make a difference for them to follow an election campaign at this time or in the spring.
Mohamed Adan, 42, a Muslim immigrant taking Grade 12 courses at an adult high school in Centretown, says that as long as campaigns and elections don’t ever conflict with Ramadan, he doesn’t care when they are held.
Fred Litwin, 49, says he has already gone campaigning door-to-door with Keith Fountain, the Conservative candidate for Ottawa Centre.
Volunteering during a Christmas campaign won’t be a problem for him because he is Jewish and therefore doesn’t celebrate Christmas.
And although Hanukkah falls around the same time as Christmas, Litwin says Jews do not typically take time off work to celebrate.
Nonetheless, the prospect of politics conflicting with Christmas does worry some Canadians, particularly small business owners who feel the campaign could distract people from their Christmas shopping.
“I’m part of a huge number of people for whom this is our hardest working time of the year and [politicians] can’t fiddle with that,” says 35-year-old Sheena Zain, owner of Aziz & Co., a small South Asian corner shop in Centretown. Zain’s parents started the business in 1964.
For his part, Santa says he won’t be promising the politicians the gift of a seat in the House of Commons. Or a majority government.
“Same as what we tell the kids, never promise them anything just promise them a surprise,” Santa says.