nuSarnia’s voter guide offers a starting point for stronger democracy

Bob Sutton applauds nuSarnia’s non-partisan voter guide and encourages residents to engage in democratic life beyond casting a ballot.

The nuSarnia Voter Guide is an outstanding example of active citizen engagement to connect with others, inform them effectively, and strengthen voter awareness for better voting decisions.

The work these non-partisan people put in to surveying municipal candidates and collating the answers to enable efficient and effective reviews of perspectives must have taken hours, and they are to be commended for such initiative.

Given the research that shows the typical citizen in an average life cycle will spend over 25,000 hours shopping, it could be time to take an hour off and strengthen democratic process by using this effective guide to be fully informed voters.

In their book Democracy’s Second Act, Canadians Macleod and Johnson note that active citizen voices will take us beyond the X on a ballot and towards actual influence on policy. Already such developments are becoming evident in Canada through Citizen Assemblies, e-petitions to federal government, participatory budgeting, and Rights of Initiative in Montreal that allow citizens to present issues for discussion directly to local government.

We are entering a new era for action beyond a polling booth, where our ideas and voices can actually be heard and acted upon. May we all take time to become more engaged citizens, and strengthen our fragile democracy.

– Bob Sutton