Syrians die to reach countries where citizens are free to vote

Regime change doesn’t happen on its own.

If you want to throw the bums out, you can’t just sit it out. You have to vote them out.

And if you want to keep the opposition parties out of power, you have the power to vote against them.

On the eve of Monday’s federal election, anyone who questions the point (or the power) of the ballot box should ask a Syrian refugee how regime change works. And doesn’t work.

Remember them? Fleeing civil war, Syrians played a fleeting cameo role early on in the campaign, prompting Canadians to ask of their leaders:

Why couldn’t more refugees come here?

Which raises another question for all of us:

Why are refugees dying, literally, to come here?

The answer, in a word, is democracy.

In Syria, regime change is a nonstarter, because it ends badly. In Canada — a nation founded on the precepts of peace, order and good government — bad governments can be changed in a peaceful and orderly way. On election day. No guns. No bombs. No incitement — at least not much, if you discount Conservative demonization of minorities within minorities.

In Canada, all it takes is the right to vote.

Well, not quite. While every citizen has the right to vote — and a responsibility to democracy — fewer of us do, election after election.

There are countless reasons for thinking your vote doesn’t count — politics leaves you disengaged, disinterested, disaffected, disbelieving or disgusted — but they are not reason enough. Not exercising that right is a wrong, because a vote is a terrible thing to waste. Just ask a Syrian. Before writing this political column, I reported from countries where people couldn’t vote or where their votes didn’t count. Today, when I hear Canadians complain that politicians are all the same, that proportional representation is the only true way, or that the election result is preordained, I wish they could experience just one campaign in a fledgling democracy or faltering dictatorship.

Canada is no backwater, yet it is going backwards in terms of turnouts.

Voting in every election is an obligation of citizenship, but Monday’s vote cries out for democratic engagement more than most.

This time, there is a clear choice between the Conservatives and the two opposition parties on how, and how much, government delivers essential social programs — child care, health care, pharmacare, pensions.

For example, if you believe the current CPP (which pays out less than half of U.S. Social Security) should be expanded on a pay-asyou-go basis, then you should vote Liberal or NDP. If you believe the Conservative claim — disputed by virtually every economist — that pension premiums are a confiscatory “tax,” retained by government and never ever repaid with accrual upon retirement — then by all means vote for the supposedly anti-tax (but in reality anti-CPP) Tories. Hey, it’s a democracy. If you dislike the niqab, but disagree that prime ministers should pick on veiled immigrant women, then vote for one of the opposition parties.

If you believe the state should use its full powers of coercion to unveil women against their will and keep them at the margins of society, then vote Conservative, please.

After all, it’s a free country (unless you want to wear a niqab).

If you want to throw the bums out, but live in a riding where the Liberals and New Democrats split the vote — allowing the Conservatives to squeak in with a bare plurality every time — then choose the opposition candidate with the best prospects. Strategic voting is no guarantee of victory, but apathy is always defeatist.

In Syria, regime change is a non-starter, because it ends badly. In Canada, bad governments can be changed in a peaceful and orderly way. On election day. No guns. No bombs. No incitement

Even if your candidate has no chance, a ballot is never wasted. The seat count isn’t the only number that counts, especially not in a minority Parliament where rival parties joust for legitimacy: Popular vote percentages are often cited as a factor when trying to interpret public sentiment, as in the 1985 decision to allow the opposition Liberals to form a government with NDP support in Ontario.

Don’t take democracy for granted. As we learned in mid-campaign, Syrian refugees would do anything to live in a country where they are free to vote and live free from discrimination.

If you want regime change in the Middle East, it takes a village. If you want a change of government in Canada, it takes a voter.

You can throw the bums out. Or you can throw your hands up.

Your vote. Your choice. Martin Regg Cohn’s Ontario politics column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. mcohn@thestar.ca, Twitter: @reggcohn