THUNDER BAY – EDITORIAL – After a positive start to the voting day, by 1:00PM, the number of people in Thunder Bay has fallen off the pace of the first hour. The City Clerks office is reporting that as of 1 pm, there were 8545 voters at the polls across the city, 10.6 % of eligible voters. There were 9949 voters at the polls by the same time in the 2006 election.
What is a low voter turnout? Perhaps it is a sign of apathy. Perhaps it is because many people take the freedoms we have in Canada for granted.
“Fourteen thousand young Canadians stormed Juno Beach on D-Day. Their courage, determination and self-sacrifice were the immediate reasons for the success in those critical hours. The fighting they endured was fierce and frightening. The price they paid was high – the battles for the beachhead cost 340 Canadian lives and another 574 wounded. John Keegan, eminent British historian who wrote Six Armies in Normandy, stated the following concerning the Canadian 3rd Division on D-Day: ‘At the end of the day, its forward elements stood deeper into France than those of any other division. The opposition the Canadians faced was stronger than that of any other beach save Omaha. That was an accomplishment in which the whole nation could take considerable pride’.” (source)
Weather could be a factor, as it is a slow steady rain in Thunder Bay. Contrast today’s weather to that on June 6, 1944, or contrast it to the weather that other Canadians have faced on the field of battle defending freedom.
It might sound harsh, but put on your jacket and get out and vote!
James Murray