Click here to see a rather humiliating chart, which compares voter turnout among 12 major nations. Canada appears in red on this chart -- not in deference to the flag, but because we are second-last in voter turnout figures. A pathetic 58.8 per cent. Only Japan is worse, with 56.6 per cent.
In one day, tomorrow, we could fix that. We could take all that "we're going to be #1" or "own the podium" enthusiasm we applied to the Olympics and actually improve our international standing in this blunt measure of democracy. No running, jumping or feats of strength required. Just a simple trip to the ballot box. That's it.
To be first, by the way, we'd have to leap over Australia's 95.2 per cent (where voting is mandatory). Denmark is in second place, with 86.6 per cent. So maybe, for now, we should just try to be better than the United Kingdom, with 65.5 per cent, or the United States, with 70.2 per cent. And at the very least, we should do better than our own personal worst.
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