Low voter turnout in federal, provincial and municipal elections has led to a select few setting policy where they clearly do not have a majority.

With the federal Conservative government planning to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67, I believe that the majority does not want that change. Had Conservatives been honest about this and placed it in their platform in the 2011 spring election, they would have lost by a landslide.

In reality, it is difficult to make positive election promises because no political party can simply waive a magic wand and make the miracles that some people expect to happen.

The most common excuse for not voting is that “they (politicians) are all the same.” That is simply not true. None the less, to exclude a life-changing item from people’s right to vote upon it is dishonest politics.

Some of the blame must be placed at the feet of the electorate and especially those who failed to vote. With tax season upon us, there is a little check box on the first page that asks you if you authorize Revenue Canada to share your information with Elections Canada so that you are registered to vote. If a tax filer does not answer “yes” to this question, they will not receive a voter information card in the mail informing them of their poll location for any election.

In my opinion, everyone who files income tax should be registered to vote automatically and we should do away with the clever, psychologically deceiving little check box. With modern photo ID there is little chance of fraud in sending everyone a voter information card at election time. If someone doesn’t want to vote, they still have the free will to throw their voter information card in the garbage.

If you don’t register to vote with your income tax filing, you lose your say in how things are done because you won’t be told where to vote. Even if you find out where to vote on election day, you will still get a big run around.

Meanwhile, the political parties who oppose the increase in retirement age will struggle against this majority government on your behalf, but without your electoral support.

Randy Schelhas
Brantford