Education, technology, decorum will entice more voters

BY KIRK STARRATT

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Turnout to public meetings across the province has been scant, but the Select Committee on Participation in the Democratic Process is hearing similar feedback and concerns wherever they go.

One such public consultation was held at the Wandlyn Inn, Coldbrook, Wednesday evening, Oct. 29. Kings North MLA Mark Parent, Environment Minister and Minister of Labour and Workforce Development, who serves as a co-chair of the committee, said there haven’t been large turnouts to public consultation sessions although focus groups specifically for youth have been well received.

The committee will gather feedback to help recommend ways to reverse the trend of fewer Nova Scotians voting in elections.

Michel Samson, chair of the all-party committee, said it’s important that feedback is collected from a wide cross-section of the province. The committee, introduced by a resolution during the 2006 fall sitting of the House of Assembly, includes vice-chairs Parent and Maureen MacDonald, with Pat Dunn, Keith Bain, Graham Steele, Charlie Parker, H. David Wilson and Harold (Junior) Theriault.

Parent said they’re hearing similar suggestions and feedback time and again, and these themes surfaced during the consultation session in Coldbrook. People believe education in the school system to the opportunities and responsibilities of participating in democratic institutions and the political system is important.

Another common suggestion has to do with utilizing technology to engage more voters. For example, the Town of Berwick made a presentation about electronic voting. The town observed higher than normal voter turnout utilizing an electronic system in the Oct. 18 municipal election. The town apparently experienced no glitches and Berwick CAO Bob Ashley, who made the presentation, was very supportive of it. Parent said it appears to be a great system and the committee is quite interested. “It’s a tool to reach out to more people and make it easier for more people to vote,” Parent said. However, there has been some concern expressed with security, privacy and the technology needed in polling stations with electronic voting.

Politicians’ behaviour part of the problem “The third message is the behaviour of politicians themselves is part of the problem,” he said. A lack of decorum in the House of Assembly and other democratic institutions hurts the political process. “Politicians have a responsibility to behave in a way so people respect the political process and take part.”

Although the problem with decorum wasn’t mentioned during the Coldbrook session, Parent said the other two issues were.

He said the County of Kings expressed concern during a presentation over the fact that having two elections simultaneously, the municipal and federal campaigns, was problematic. For example, there was some confusion among voters with where to go to cast ballots because of different polling stations for the federal and municipal elections. They would like to see elections staggered.

In addition to the Coldbrook session, public consultations were scheduled for Antigonish, Truro, Amherst, Yarmouth, Cape Breton, Bridgewater and Halifax. Parent said there have been a great number of written submissions to the committee. For more information, visit www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/COMMITTEES/DemocraticProcess.html.