General

No excuse for apathy

From Susan Delacourt’s piece on voter alienation in today’s Star, Angus Reid’s Jaideep Mukerji gets it exactly right:

A full 78 per cent of respondents to this newest survey believe politicians are less honest today and 62 per cent said they believed Canadian democracy was in crisis. More than half of the respondents — 52 per cent — said none of the political parties had satisfactory positions on issues important to the voters.

Mukerji says the 52 per cent figure is disturbing.

“You can imagine that in a two-party system, like in the United States, that might make sense. But in Canada, there are four national parties, and there’s an extra one in Quebec. It’s not like there’s a lack of choice,” he said.

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