Whims - 23Sep26
00:00:00 Chris Golden: Hello, everyone. It happens to be Wednesday, not a Tuesday. I know I skipped a day. Heaven forbid. But the reason I skipped had everything to do with the fact that life has a way of finding a means to consume time. And that's functionally what happened. I had intended to come to you and talk to you about the news of the day yesterday here in the province of British Columbia. But here I am, a day after to talk about the same thing. We are going to the polls. Back to back here in the province of B.C. will be first in the polling booth on October seventeenth to vote in those who we feel should run our municipalities, and then again one week later in a somewhat surprise or snap election call. On October twenty fourth, we'll be back into that polling booth to elect who we feel should best represent us in our provincial legislature. Those that know me understand that politics has always held a special meaning to me in a weird way. I don't know if it's that I was brought up in what we would call a CBC household, where I listen to CBC radio one, Vancouver, um, and stayed abreast of current events, uh, over the course of my sort of young and developing years. I don't know if it's that I would often read the newspaper and pay attention to the, you know, political headwinds that might be blowing at any given time or just happen to be the the nature of my overall upbringing. But I've always been interested in the political science, uh, aspect. And I have found that when elections are called, I'm always much more hyper focused or hyper in tune to what's happening in that world. And I think for me, I always presumed that many others out there were like me. Um, we all paid attention. We all looked forward to that opportunity, that one day that we'd be able to cast our own vote. And as I've learned over the years, that's not actually the case. For whatever reason, people in general tend to vote, maybe not tend to vote, but become less in engaged during a municipal election. Which is oddly, um, weird because the municipal election is the one that has the most impact on our day to day lives. And so for me, I've always made sure to get out and cast that ballot, put my mark down on a piece of paper as to the people that I feel best represent the future that I feel my municipality should aspire to. And yet, when we look at sort of election turnout, provincial elections get a higher number, and then our federal elections even higher than that. But there has been a trend as of late where those numbers have started to lower. And that worries me. I'm a firm believer that there is no more important civil responsibility than casting your ballot. And I truly believe that our power as an electorate exists in our ability to use that voice. It's not something I have ever taken for granted, and I think that resonates strongly because it's something that my grandfather used to tell me time and time again, is that he did things in his youth to ensure, at least in his mind, that I would have a future where I could vote. That being his experience in the Second World War. And I my grandpa was telling me, this is this is important, and I, I looked up to him. So why wouldn't it be? And now that I'm. I'm older, I know how important it is. I had a conversation with my daughter yesterday where we were talking about the importance of casting a ballot, and I had said that I won't tell her when she has the opportunity, who she can vote for. My hope is that she casts a ballot and votes for those that aspire to create the future that she would want to be part of, that she would want her children if she has some to be part of. And that's what's most important. But at the end of the day, it does not have to be the same as mama's or daddy's. But I also explained to her that what upsets me the most is there are those who quite loudly proclaim that they should take the ability to vote away from people. And that is something that should never be acquiesced to. Because if at any point votes and the ability to to, you know, exercise that right that we have to our voice is taken away, then it's a slippery slope. It is possible to then find other groups to take those votes away from. Now, in saying this, this isn't something I got into with my daughter. I'm not suggesting that those who are not eligible to vote to do so. I am firmly behind a fair and free election. And it's why I place implicit trust into organizations like elections BC and Elections Canada to to do their job, of which I think they do it extremely well. But I also look down on any candidate who tells me who shouldn't be able to exercise that right. And I hope more people understand the importance of speaking up for those whose rights might be removed or taken away. But what I wanted to talk about within the short time with you today is how important it is that you get out and cast a ballot when given the opportunity to do so. Maybe you're not a resident of British Columbia and the October seventeenth municipal election in the October twenty fourth provincial election do not apply. That doesn't mean you don't have an opportunity to vote at some point down the road. I ask if you can to ensure that you get out. You make that vote, you cast that ballot, have your voice heard. Because a a voice that speaks up is one with power, a voice that says nothing carries with it no impetus for change. And to anyone who aspires to run and throw your hat into the political discourse and step up and, and, and offer yourself as a candidate, I encourage you to do so. I simply ask that you focus on telling me as an elector, what it is that you want the future to become. Tell me what can be, not what won't be. Um, it's it's, it's something I, I used to talk about in the customer service industry when I would deliver training. No one ever comes in to ask what you can't do for them. They come and ask what you can. And what we need to do is revisit how we approach things. Let's focus on what it is that we can do and what we plan to do, and focus on the future ahead of us and not not what has happened in the past. That's not to suggest we forget what has happened in the past, should inform us directly on what can happen in the future.
00:07:53 Chris Golden: But if there is a problem with what exists today, let's talk about the steps that we're going to take to change that to make it even better for us, for our children, for our children's children.
00:08:05 Chris Golden: Whims is recorded on the traditional and unceded territory for the Semiahmoo, Kwantlen and Katzie Nations. You can email me at whimsfyi@proton.me, that's W H I M S F Y I at proton.me, with a casual hello, comments, questions or the winning lottery numbers. And no, I don't need your help with SEO. You can find all the links mentioned in this episode, in the show notes on the website, whims.fyi. And the song you hear at the start and the end of the show is "The Homestead" from Logan at musicformakers.com.