By Staff
August 14th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Part 2 of a two part story on what the people of Burlington feel about an election call
With the whiff of an election in the air, the Gazette decided to send a team of reporters out into the streets to hear what the public had to say.
The team, made up of Max Bowder and Ryan O’Dowd, covered all six wards and approached people asking:
Do you think there should be a federal election?
Depending on the answer they followed up with:
Why or why not.
Bowder covered the Northen part of the city – everything north of Fairview.
We asked the team to get as many responses as possible – we wanted some depth to what people thought – thus the length. Some people didn’t want to give names; some locations were better than others. Bowder was asked to leave the library where he was interviewing people
The responses Bowder got were: Good idea to call for an election: 7
Bad idea to call for an election: 28
No opinion: 7
Individually here are his results.
No, I don’t think it is necessary and I won’t vote for him – male
No, we have enough problems – Steve, male
When looking for man/woman on the street interviews you go to where there are people – supermarkets and LCBO outlets.
No, when the election is called, it takes priority away from covid and instead on what’s best for the candidate … with low vaccine rates it is not a good time and we should want to wait until 90% of the country is vaccinated – Samir, male
No, with everything else going on, it’s just the wrong timing – Male
I don’t know if it’s the best time for it because I think there is still two years before they are required call an election, so I guess no – female
I don’t really have an opinion on it – female
No because I think it’s a political maneuver on his part (Justin Trudeau), I just heard on the news how much it will cost for the election, 610 million dollars! I mean, we are in huge debt as it is – female
Absolutely he should – female
That would be nice, politically it’s something I don’t really … I could go on for a long time with this so that why I can’t give you a straight answer for that one to be honest … I just don’t argue about politics with other people – Dave, Male,
No, I’m not really sure – female
No, I think he (Justin Trudeau) thinks he could win; I’m worried he could win again. – female
No, I feel like he (Justin Trudeau) will lose if he does it. – male
No, there’s enough going on right now, we don’t need to go to the polls. – female
No, I think he should do something else, focus on getting people back on track. We’ll see what happens, I wouldn’t be surprised because He’s taking advantage of the opportunity and again why not? – Gabe, female, ward 5
No definitely not – female
Uh its ok – female
No, too many things going on – Chris, male
I don’t know I guess so? You know what in all honesty I don’t know about that – Christina, female
No, our intent should be trying to get us out of this – female
Sure, not really, I think it’s time for change, I don’t know if he will win – female, Oakville
No, because there is too much going on, there’s too much covid and everything – female
Yes, actually I think he should be governing … but if Hes (Justin Trudeau) trying to win back a majority, I don’t know … my personal feelings, I hope he gets voted out- Julius, male, North Carolina
I don’t know enough to comment. For politicians it is [for liberals] think they will get a majority, that’s what I’m guessing – Ray, male Oakville
Uuuhhhhhh no, I don’t know – male
No, too expensive no question … he (Justin Trudeau) should focus on the economy you know, we gotta get people back to work – Mark, male
Doesn’t matter, I’m indifferent – Donna, female
No, Well I’m a conservative sooo, in the middle of a pandemic it does make a whole lot a sense to the prime minister, it’s a waste of twenty million dollars. – Dave, male
No, sorry I don’t understand – female
No, He’s (Justin Trudeau) only calling an election at this time because you know He’s kinda favored right now and he doesn’t get my vote – Victoria, female
I do, I think that what He’s done in over the pandemic and uh just what he has been doing as a prime minister I think gives him the right to say what he sees happening and I trust his judgement on that, and I think what are people waiting for? I don’t understand that, for things to get better? For things to get smoother? for the pandemic to go away. I don’t believe that’s going to happen I think if the newspapers could stop talking about the fourth pandemic, I think things are going to go into more and more chaos, I think H
He’s really done a great job. He’s made mistakes of course he has but who the hell is going to take over for him (Justin Trudeau)!? – Margo, female, ward 4
Honestly, he (Justin Trudeau) has to call it sometime so why not tomorrow? – Racheal, female
I don’t know, probably not because of covid it’s not worth it even if he gets a majority – Cindy, Female Oakville
I think so, Hes (Justin Trudeau) in a good position to… if he can do it, he should – Stu, male
Yea it is, he should try to get a majority – male
I wouldn’t think so with all of this happening do you really think people are in the mood to go out and vote? – female
No timing is not the best … well there’s the pandemic and everything’s really confusing – Debbie, female,
Um for him (Justin Trudeau) it’s the right choice – Dick, male
No, there is more pressing issues like the huge amount of debt the government has put on the country’s books, both for your generation and mine, none of the political parties are discussing how to pay back the debt, – Tom, male
Either way probably not, no great concerns, I just don’t know that it is necessary, that’s more than the whole thing. I think things are going as well as they can given the, excuse my language, shit storm. We’re just in survival mode as a country and a civilization. – Steve, male
No, there’s bigger issues going on right now, Steve(different one), male
No, not the time Eyaz, male
No, I think its just poor timing with covid and everything and I’m not the fan of our prime minister, I don’t agree with a lot of what he’s done – Paul, male
I haven’t really thought of it – female
Uh that’s a good question I don’t know, at this point no, probably not. I don’t know why they are doing it well I do know but its up to them I guess. – female
No because I think there is too much going on right now. – Jennifer , female
No, its not the time. – female
We have a follow up report on what Ryan O’Dowd learned in the Southern part of the city.
Max Bowder reporrts: “Most people feel that this is not the best time to have an election while in the middle of COVID and there are other things The Prime Minister can be focusing on such as the economy. Many also believe the Prime Minister is only calling this election, hoping win back a majority government for his handling of the pandemic.”
Max Bowder is a second year journalism student at Sheridan College. He is part of a team with the Gazette on the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the federal government. Before enrolling at Sheridan Max volunteered in a community in Argentina where he worked with young people. He is a Burlington resident who helps out on the family farm in Milton.
