Ontario Election 2014 – Get Out and Vote!
I’m going to apologize in advance for the extremely Ontario skewed blog post today, but there are some big things going on in the province over the next week or so. The Ontario Election 2014 has already started up and the opportunity to vote will be coming on June 12th. I’m going to warn your right now as well, I’m not huge into politics and I’m not going to provide a major educational lesson. Instead this is going to cover a bit of info and really focus on the fact that we should start voting as Gen Y’ers and students.
Ontario Election 2014
There is actually something pretty important happening in June, aside from the season premiere of Orange is the New Black and Suits. Ontario will have it’s general election on June 12th and there are a lot of us students and Gen Y’ers out there that can either vote for the first time and/or make an impact at the polls.
There have been some pretty awkward moments already so far, especially for Tim Hudak..it’s sad but it may have been when I actually started thinking about the vote.
First the awkward encounter which kicked off his 1 million jobs campaign
Which was then followed by an attempt at a photo op on a TTC subway train
Our Voting Options
But aside from these interesting situations Mr. Hudak has gotten himself in, he is one of many parties/individuals that we can vote for on June 12th.
The “Big 3”
Tim Hudak-Conservatives
Kathleen Wynne-Liberals
Andrea Horwath-NDP
The One’s that Didn’t Go to the Debate
Mike Shreiner-Green Party
And if some alternative groups float your boat you can check them out through wikipedia but whether or not they have a representative in your riding is a different story.
Do Your Research
Before the big day make sure you do your research, and determine what party platform fits your views the best. I recently used the CBC Vote Compass (which is also used to gather market research data FYI) and it allowed me to fill out a survey and determine what party fits my ideals the best. Obviously take the results with a grain of salt, but this is a good way to ID which parties you may want to do more research on and determine your best choice.
Also don’t just check out the websites linked above but really look into news articles that often help to shed some light on the less glossy on goings for these parties and their leaders.
How Will This Impact You
As a student or recent grad make sure to check out different parties stances on education, youth unemployment, possibly entrepreneurship and any effects their policies will have on the industry you hope to work in after school.
#Selfie
I think it happened a week or so ago but I remember thinking it was a joke at first, but then these stories started creeping up everywhere. First it was someone hopping over a fence to take a selfie with a polar bear at the zoo (yup you’re an idiot) oh and then people taking selfies of their ballots at polling stations!!! Holy crap people are you serious. I don’t usually rant on here but I honestly hope we don’t have any issues when Ontario votes. The UK has banned selfies in advance of their upcoming election (I can’t believe they have to). So let’s keep our election selfie free peeps 
Vote, Vote, Vote!
So I hope you feel slightly more informed about the Ontario Election 2014 and go out and vote, I’ll definitely be doing so. Also I hope this was the least boring political post you’ve ever read.
Images
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8zuB8cFF-kw/TWJzmhEdCmI/AAAAAAAAFdA/vsjIZYUjpdM/s400/free_vote_poster_med.jpg
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/games/teachers-corner/images/outline_ontario.jpg
