By Casey Cosgrove
BURLINGTON, ON October 12, 2011 While driving to a hockey game on the weekend, my 11 year-old son Jack was asking a number of questions related to last Thursdays provincial election after seeing a number of signs still in the ground. Jack asked who won, which person I voted for, why, and about the differences between the candidates that were running.
This is the same child who has said on more than one occasion that he will either become an entrepreneur, or the mayor Burlington, he just hasn’t made up his mind yet. Jack says that the only part of being mayor that he does not like is the ‘talking’ part. Some would say this would be a welcome new style for politicians, and may garner a few votes. I love his curiosity on the subject, and since he is the only one in my family who will talk ‘politics’ with me, I was more than willing to engage in such banter during this most precious of time we share so often together – driving to hockey.
I did my best to give Jack a father’s version’ of Burlington politics 101, and tried to do so letting my own preferences and leanings influence the basic conversation as little as possible, which frankly, I found quite difficult to do. I explained that some people voted strictly for a political party, some for a candidate, others for an issue, and many others for some combination of the above. I also explained that some people simply do not vote, and shared some of my thoughts on why that continues to be an issue not just here in Burlington, but also in Ontario, and in Canada.
I thought about giving him a 'canned' spiel about how we want to be represented by the person who shares our values and positions on key issues, but decided I want going to fill my sons head with empty clichés that may not mean much to him at this age and stage in his life. I also generally avoid feeding my kids a lot of BS.
I also relayed the fact that the winner of this election would represent us (and Burlington) in the Legislature, and some basic points about what that entailed. Yet, it was Jacks final question that really caused me to stop and think. He asked ‘ Dad, what difference does it really make for Burlington who you voted for or which person represents us’?
I hesitated, told Jack it was a good question, and asked if he would give me a minute to think about it. I thought about giving him a ‘canned’ spiel about how we want to be represented by the person who shares our values and positions on key issues, but decided I want going to fill my sons head with empty clichés that may not mean much to him at this age and stage in his life. I also generally avoid feeding my kids a lot of BS. By now I knew that Burlington would again be represented by the Progressive Conservatives and Jane McKenna at Queens Park, and for the third straight term, our voice will be on display from a ‘back seat’ of the opposition benches.
I thought about discussing the many promises that were made during the election 4 years ago that were broken, but didn’t want to disillusion the boy by explaining to him that things said during a campaign don’t always translate into action. It crossed my mind to try to explain that a particular candidate would have been able to influence the new McGuinty government to move on something such as the hospital re-development more than the other candidates should they win, but I’m not sure that would have been an accurate statement given where they are in that process, and how much of the hard work and advocacy has already been done.
I thought about telling Jack that each of the candidates would have pushed and advocated for ‘different’ things with the government, but that Burlington is not a place that any government in my lifetime has seen as a priority in any way shape or form, so we would still be waiting in line.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t have a solid answer to his question. It was this simple question that stumped me when I really thought about it. However, when your 11-year old asks you a question, it is only polite to have a reply, so I said ‘ Jack, do you want to stop for a donut before we get to the arena?’ He smiled, nodded, and the topic has not come up again since. With any luck, it won’t again for a few years.
