{"id":1645,"date":"2022-05-30T09:46:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T14:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/?p=1645"},"modified":"2022-05-30T09:46:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T14:46:58","slug":"action-is-an-antidote-to-despair-vote-with-your-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/30\/action-is-an-antidote-to-despair-vote-with-your-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Action Is An Antidote To Despair – Vote With Your Heart!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The voices of the children of Thorncliffe are the sound of hope!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have had it up to here with you guys\u201d he said, gesturing emphatically. \u201cI am not voting for anyone! You guys come here at election time asking for a vote and then nothing for four years!\u201d<\/em> As I knocked on thousands of doors in Don Valley West, I heard a version of this lament far too many times.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I understand it.  I feel that same frustration with our political system.  How did I become one of the \u201cyou guys\u201d?  I knew at the outset that politicians rank at the very bottom of almost any \u201ctrust scale\u201d. I\u2019ve now learned that by throwing my hat in the ring, I became a \u201cpolitician\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a column full of sweetness and sentiment about the good people running for office and the virtue of parliamentary democracy. NO. In fact, a good deal of the cynicism that so many feel is frankly justified. Just saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to run a campaign that might influence how things are done.  We tried to use our campaign to elevate the voices of people who are often unheard \u2013 seniors, young people marginalized from their rights, those struggling with mental health challenges, those living with disabilities, people in communities marginalized from their rights, newcomers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A campaign could be a meeting in the public square where everyone\u2019s voices are respected, ideas are exchanged and the people are heard – before every election. Wouldn\u2019t that be refreshing? Campaigns could be about change.  If not about changing government, then about improving our lives. Isn\u2019t that why all political parties make all sorts of policy platform promises? In fact, isn\u2019t that what politics is supposed to be about? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We could influence and create change as we campaign. I tried to do that.  For instance, we connected parts of our riding, as disparate as could be, so that they could support each other – on tenants\u2019 issues, small businesses in one area, supporting a grassroots group in another. We tried to build community as we campaigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thorncliffe Park is an amazing community in a corner of Don Valley West.  There is no doubt at all that the people of Thorncliffe Park have been held back.  Institutions like Metrolinx have mistreated this community.  There is a huge lack of trust between those 30,000 residents and the political process.  It is why we created the Thorncliffe Declaration as a tool of accountability for the community to use should I be elected – and if I\u2019m not elected, it will be a tool to hold whoever is accountable.  An attempt to begin to rebuild trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a strange way elections are not about politicians.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t think the race in Don Valley West is about me.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s about \u201cus\u201d. The broader \u201cus\u201d, across the whole riding.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On average nearly half of eligible voters don\u2019t vote.\u00a0In 2007, 52% of eligible Ontarians voted; in 2011, 48%; in 2014, 51%. In 2018, 58% percent of eligible voters cast a ballot \u2013 a nearly 20-year high.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of those marginalized from their rights dont vote. Like the man at the door, people who have lost all hope that things can be different.\u00a0\u00a0Its time. If you are one of those people, I challenge you.\u00a0\u00a0Find the courage to hope.\u00a0\u00a0If you all voted, you would change the course of the election, and if you voted in your own interest, you would influence the path of equity and change in our Province.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might feel better too because \u2013 as young people have taught me \u2013 action, even a small act, is an antidote to despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irwin Elman <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have had it up to here with you guys\u201d he said, gesturing emphatically. \u201cI am not voting for anyone! You guys come here at election time asking for a vote and then nothing for four years!\u201d As I knocked on thousands of doors in Don Valley West, I heard a version […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1647,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645\/revisions\/1647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}