The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Why it's Important to Vote in Ontario's Election

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Premier Doug Ford's snap election is underway. Only a few days away from Ontario's 2025 election day, The Agenda invites Amanda Munday, Executive Director of New Majority to tell us why everyone in this province needs to get out and vote. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Renew your 2.0 TVO with more thought-provoking documentaries, insightful current affairs coverage, and fun programs and learning experiences for kids. Regular contributions from people like you help us make a difference in the lives of Ontarians of all ages. Visit tvo.me slash 2025 donate to renew your support or make a first time donation and continue to discover your two point TBO. It might be a pain, particularly in winter weather, but voting is still an essential part of democracy. And with only a few days left in this campaign, we thought we'd provide a little 411 on everything you need to know about how to vote and why.

So we're now joined by Amanda Munday, Executive Director of New Majority, a nonpartisan advocacy group. Welcome to our studios. Thanks for having me. All right. There's something important happening this week. Tell me about it. There's an election happening.

It wasn't planned. It snapped, but it's here and it's on Thursday, February 27th. So Amanda, how can Ontarians vote? So, Ontarians can get to the polls from 9am to 9pm on February 27th, Election Day. You can also go to your local election office right now. They're open. You can look online on Elections Ontario website to find out exactly where your local election office or where your polling station is.

Alright, are there any other ways that Ontarians can vote? Can we do mail-in if you're not in the province? Are there some options there? You do have some options. So Ontarians can vote by mail. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot was Friday, February 21st. So if you applied for a mail-in ballot, then you need to get that in by 6 p.m. on election day. But if you didn't apply for a mail-in ballot, then you want to go in person. All right. Let's talk a little bit about the House. As you mentioned,

snap election. It's a bit cold out there. Some of the snow has melted, but it's interesting to have an election in the winter. If you can't get to the polls because of the weather, what can you do? Well, you want to make sure that you get to the polls as best as you can. So while you can vote by mail, now it's about getting in person. So you want to make sure that you're looking up your local, that you're looking up where your polling station is and making sure that you get there. You can walk, you can go by transit, you can contact a friend to get a ride if you need to. Alright so let's say we haven't voted yet in the advanced polls, we haven't done the mail-in, we are dead set on waiting on election day.

Because maybe that's how you see democracy, wait until the last minute to kind of assess out the parties. If you're working, that might be an obstacle for some people to get to the polls. If we can't get away from work, how do we sort of navigate that? It's really important that everybody knows that your employer is legally required to give you three hours off to vote. And that polls are open longer than a working day usually. So depending on when you can vote either before work, during work, your employer legally has to require that you have time off to be able to go and vote. Or you can go after work if you're working a standard 9 to 5 or during the day. You can go in the evening and make sure that you you get to the polls. We've seen lots of reports that there's been steady

traffic so not really long lines but it's encouraging to see that people are showing up to the polls and I would say that don't let lines or timing be the barrier for getting there. Alright so we shouldn't get any flag from our employers at all. Absolutely not. Alright. Your employers are legally required to give you time to vote. There we go. Once we get there, what should we have in our pockets?

What should we make sure? I know some people had received voter cards in the mail, but if you didn't get that, that's not a problem as well. That's right. So Elections Ontario does a really good job with ID and what you need to vote. So if you have that voter information card, all you need is one piece of ID that has your name on it. So that can be a library card, it can be your blood card, it can be a debit card, it doesn't

have to be photo ID. If you don't have your photo, if you don't have that voter information card with you, then you need a piece of ID that has your name and your address. So that could be a pay stub, that could be a utility bill, it can be anything from CRA, anything that has your name and your address, it doesn't have to be photo ID. And what's also important to know is it doesn't have

to be physical, so you can use electronic piece of ID, so you can show something on your phone, whether it's a bank statement, anything that's got your name and address, you can vote. Sounds like there's no excuse to not vote. There's no excuse, just get there. All right. Curious if it's your first time voting, anything different that you need to do? There's nothing that you need to do as a first time voter.

And so sometimes people worry, you know, I didn't register in advance, so I'm not going to be eligible to vote. And especially if you pay attention to US media, you may think you have to be registered in order to vote. That's not true in Ontario. You can simply show up at the polls and they will help to make sure that they can look who you are up and make sure that you can cast your ballot. All right. Let's get a little bit of a better understanding of New Majority. What is it?

So New Majority is a nonprofit-profit, non-partisan organization that's really dedicated to get out the vote. So what we do is we work on encouraging young people to get to the polls. And what that looks like is what we call elections organizing. So we've got a phone bank where we're calling and we're getting young people to make a vote plan so that they can figure out when, how they're going to get to the polls, when they're going to go, exactly if they have work, their transportation needs. And then one of the most exciting activations that we do is poll walking.

So that's where we put peers on the ground on campuses all over Ontario to literally walk young people to the polls. So we stop every person that walks by us and we say, hey, what are you doing today? It's fun, it's high energy. And we say, let's go to the polls. so we stop every person that walks by us and we say, hey, what are you doing today? It's fun, it's high energy, and we say, let's go to the polls, let's go. It's your first time, you've never been before, that's okay, we're going, come with us,

let's get to the polls, you know we can talk to you about ID, we can talk to you about what you need, and then we just simply guide them right to the polling station. Very nice, I'm curious, why do you think your organization is so important in today's climate? It's a great question. So in the last provincial election, voter turnout was 43%, which means the majority of this province didn't turn out in the last election.

And when we're looking at the political climate right now, in Canada and internationally, democracy is so important. And when people don't turn up, it then calls into question who's elected, who makes those decisions, what voices are being heard. And so when I saw the 2022 turnout stats, you know, it was more motivating than ever that my team needs to make sure that we encourage young people to vote. You know, it's important for a young person who's never voted before, first time or a new voter, it makes sense that you're unsure of the process.

It makes sense that you're not sure about a new system, political offices can seem intimidating, I don't really know about what that's about. If you're not engaged in politics, you might feel that it's not for you Right. And so our organization really exists to take all of that pressure away and have a really non-judgmental very logistical Welcoming easy way to get you to the polls. Walk me through sort of the added challenge I know some people might have seen some of the ads now popping up on on socials and on ads if if they're streaming but the added challenge of this being such a short window of an election to get young

people engaged. We had our work cut out with us for this election so it's a snap election more than a year ahead of the planned election date so our teams needed to move fast. On top of that last week during advanced polls was reading week so on campuses all over students weren't there. On top of that Ontario has been facing some pretty significant weather and so when we look at just simply getting to the polls you know there are there's 23 publicly funded universities and 24 publicly funded colleges. Guess how many on-campus polling stations there are for this election? Oh I don't even know. There are eight. That's it? There are eight. So in

elections Ontario's defense they've said well if they're not a polling station on campus they're across the street or short distance. But when we're thinking about those mounds of snow, about the puddles, about encouraging young people who've never done it before to get to the polls, I care a lot about where the polling stations are. I care that they're on campus. I care that we're removing barriers to get young people there. And so it really has been important for us to be on campus talking to young people.

And we had to put all of those plans in place pretty much overnight. You mentioned some of the campaigns that you're working on. Can you talk a little bit about the others that you're working on for this election cycle? So we have phone banking, we've also got relational organizing and so relational organizing is one of the most effective get out the vote strategies that we've seen out of the US and that's where we pay young people $150 to text their friends to make vote plans.

Because if you think about it, if you hear from a random stranger like me that says, no vote, no say, that might be somewhat effective. But if you hear from someone in your network, someone close to you that says, hey, let's make a plan together to go to the polls, we know that that's far more effective.

And so we've really leaned into relational organizing as one of our tactics. Also, it's great to be able to get some money into the pocket of young people when we have an affordability challenge. So relational organizing has been really important. On campus poll walking has been critical. And then that phone banking is,

a lot of people say young people don't answer the phones, but we talk to them. I'm curious, I'm sure young people, one of the things, whether it's your friends or people that you are campaigning with are saying is they might tend to say, my vote doesn't matter. We hear it all the time, unfortunately. Tell me if you had their ears, what would you tell them and sort of say they're wrong? There's two things I always say to a young person when they say my vote doesn't matter. The first thing I say is your vote counts the same as someone in power.

You have an equal rated weighted vote to any other individual who goes to the polls. So you getting to the polls is important. By not showing up you're releasing that power to the people who you say don't listen to you. The other thing I say is, you know, there's a lot of rhetoric around, like, youth are apathetic, youth are not apathetic. We've seen student movements be loud and proud. We know that youth care.

Voting is a collective act, but I also offer to people, it's also an individual act. When you feel overwhelmed, when you feel anxious about the state of the world, you're stressed out about climate, you're stressed about mental health, tuition, rent, I have an option for you that can help you, the individual, feel a little bit less anxious. That's by taking action.

We know, all of the studies show that the way to reduce anxiety is through agency or through action. And every individual can vote. So one of the most effective tactics I use is not persuasion. It's not at all talking about the parties. What I say is, are you stressed today? Do you want to do something today to get that really great dopamine hit of checking something off your list, come with me right now. Let's cast your ballot and you can say you did something towards those issues that you care about. Very good. Alright, we have one minute left. We have four days before people can start putting in their last ballots there.

What are some easy ways for folks to become politically engaged within the next few days? You want to go to the Elections Ontario website. That is your main official source of information. So you'll see lots of different political parties getting your attention. You'll see the mainstream news. There's social media and I would say of course look up your candidate information. Find out who your local candidates are and then look at their platforms and the issues that matter to you and what those candidates are offering. But most importantly, if you have one job between now and February 27th, it's for you to make a concrete plan with yourself and a buddy to vote.

So I want you to know how are you gonna get there. I want you to know when you're gonna go. I want you to make a plan. Get your friends involved. Because as soon as you make that concrete logistical plan to vote, I have confidence that we will see an increase in voter turnout across the province. I feel like I know the answer to this question. But have you voted yet? You know what? I haven't voted yet. Okay. We're waiting until the 27th. I am waiting until the 27th. I am all about that high energy election day voting.

And so I'm bringing my children and we're really excited. We have our plan to vote after school on the 27th. All right, very good. Amanda, thank you so much for the 411 on all of this. It was great. Thank you for having me.