I never thought that election candidates would want to just disregard anyone they may come in contact with, directly or indirectly. Every person is potential vote, right?
John Wilkinson is the Liberal Party candidate for the Perth-Wellington electoral district in Ontario's upcoming election. I case you haven't heard it's on October the 10th. This happens to be the riding where I reside.
At about 8pm this evening I got a phone call. The caller ID displayed the familiar "Unknown name" and gave a Toronto area telephone number. Figuring it was a 50-50 chance at being a telemarketer or possibly something of substantial importance, I answered the phone. When you have to say hello twice, you know what you're in for. Another damn telemarketer. I waited for the usual spiel after receiving the "Hello?" that you get from a telemarketer (they are usually surprised someone answered the call), but then I was informed that the voice on the line was calling on behalf of the local Liberal Party Candidate and would I offer him my support at the upcoming provincial election. I pondered this for a millisecond and then stated, "Well, I really don't know much about him". I was going to continue with I can't offer support to someone I know nothing about, when I immediately got "So you're not voting?" I responded "No..." intending to continue with my though about issue of knowledge before support, when the voice continued ... "Um, well..." there was a brief pause and then, "Oh well, you're not voting, so never mind. Thank you." What else could I say but "Goodbye".
I guess I'll never get to hear from the Wilkinson Campaign where I can find out about him. But I did go looking for myself. And I guess I'm "not voting" the way Wilkinson might like me to vote, because even after being contacted by his campaign people and looking over his website, I'm not encouraged to vote at all.
I will vote, because I believe that I should, but not by any help from the Liberal Party.
