Historicist: Life in Wartime
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician.
Now that three out of four major party campaigns have offices up and running, our focus has turned to the meat and potatoes of campaigning: the canvass. If you live in Toronto Centre and you haven't yet heard from one of us candidates, you will soon.
There are primarily two types of canvassing (foot and phone), and the main goals of each are to make contact with voters and to identify supporters. If a voter tells a canvasser (either someone at the door or on the phone) that they're planning to vote for that canvasser's candidate, then the voter's name, address, and phone number go on a list of confirmed supporters. On election day, scrutineers for each campaign are able to tell who has already voted and who hasn't. (A secret ballot means you get to keep who you vote for a secret, but you don't get to keep if you vote a secret.) If you told Candidate X that you were going to vote for her, but then halfway through election day her campaign notices you haven't been out to vote yet, you'll probably receive a call reminding you to vote and even offering you a ride to the poll. This whole process is called ID/GOTV (Identify and Get Out The Vote), and it's the backbone of campaign organizing.
Of course, if you have a question for the candidate or their volunteer about what they're campaigning on or why they deserve your vote, it's also fair for you to ask when they show up at your door or call your home. Or, if you're like most people I talk to at the door and can't think of a question on the spot, you can follow up later with an email or phone call.
One of the key things to note about canvassing is that during an election period, all candidates have a legal right to knock on your door, even if you live in a condo or a gated community guarded by security. This provision of the Canada Elections Act is important to ensure that all candidates have equal access to all voters. Otherwise, the fairness of our democracy could be compromised. Just something to keep in mind for when we knock on your door. (Though, it should be said, more than 90% of people who answer their doors are polite or even grateful to hear from any given campaign, even if they've already decided to vote for someone else.)
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I remember canvassing (phone and foot) a few years back. Not the most fun but it gets the word out in the riding.
I also remember having people complain when I left flyers in mailboxes that had "no junk mail" signs. Keeping people informed about the political goings on in their riding ain't junk.
this whole series is very interesting. i have a couple of biases: i used to help organize campaigns, and they weren't for the folks that chris represents.
i believe chris has done a fair and impartial job of discussing and explaining the political process in his posts so far. certainly there is no sentence that could be lifted and cited as evidence of "campaigning".
but there may be a bigger problem here: as torontoist readership grows and more people move to it as their source of information, it becomes a defacto endorsement of the green party by the torontoist editorial board. i know, i know, it's just a behind the scenes look, yadda yadda yadda, but you can't really escape the fact that giving a weekly voice to a politician in the middle of an election "to explain how politics work" is the same thing at the end of the day.
much of your readership may not agree with that. harper, baird, and rob ford make up 3 of the 5 people voted top supervillains in 2007. unlike the green party in other countries (Germany being he best example) the green party in canada is decidedly right wing. what gives?
do you guys endorse the green party in the toronto-centre by-election or do you maintain that running articles by tindal on the nature of politics while he runs for office is not a political act?
other than that. i think you guys are great and i read the site all the time.
It's a fair question, and one that does get brought up a lot. To keep it as concise as possible (there's a lot more to say about this, but most of it has been touched on before), I'll say this: Chris's articles should not be read as an implicit or explicit endorsement of him, or the Green Party, from Torontoist.