Does the election even matter? Here are my reasons to silence your inner nihilist

This column is an opinion on the N.L. election by William Ping, who lives in St. John's. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

When the Newfoundland and Labrador election was announced, I asked everyone I knew what were their main concerns for the upcoming race.

I heard a variety of responses; people were concerned with taxes or the vaccine rollout, or even the province's over-reliance on oil and gas. But the one sentiment I heard from everybody was, "It doesn't matter who wins, everything will be the same anyway."

I'll admit, I can feel that way too.

Would the turnover to a new regime create an impact we could actually feel? My first instinct would be to say "no," and then point to our national neighbours to the south and say, "Now that's where the results of an election matter."

But surely this must be wrongheaded, short-sighted thinking.

Is it true that it doesn't matter who wins, that our government has an agenda so firmly set in stone that it will tick on no matter which party is in power? 

Confrontations and outcry

I think back to the election of Dwight Ball in 2015 and the calamitous fallout when the province's budget was announced in 2016. None of us can forget the protests following that budget, with angry public confrontations and posters ordering Ball's resignation taped to poles throughout the city.

While the blame fell squarely on the shoulders of Ball, then finance minister Cathy Bennett and the Liberal party, was there really anything else they could do?

The economy they inherited already had its drastic pitfalls and their onslaught of taxes was perhaps the only way out of it. That said, there was an unfair advantage given to Newfoundland's upper class: the Bay-geoisie, if you will.

But if Paul Davis and the PC Party had been re-elected in 2015, would it have not been his face on the posters when the eventual budget was announced? Would we have not blamed him for the same things?

And what of the epic boondoggle that is Muskrat Falls? The disastrous project remains to be the root of many problems in the province, and while the Danny Williams-led government can be made to blame, it must be noted that it is unlikely that this project would have unfolded exactly the same way under the leadership of another party.

After all, every premier since Frank Moores in 1972 had attempted to start a Lower Churchill project and none had succeeded until Williams. If another governing body had been the one to establish the project, perhaps things could have unfolded differently.

Conjecture like this is admittedly somewhat pointless. Not only is there little value in fixating on what could have been but also we must consider that sometimes defining moments during a premiership are not related to campaign promises or the issues we are thinking about on voting day.

Sometimes the lasting effects of government are related to decisions and problems that none of us could have seen coming.

Certainly two years ago, none of us would've said, "I think Dwight Ball will handle the upcoming global pandemic well."

It is entirely possible that if the government were in someone else's hands that our response to the dangers of the novel coronavirus could have gone more poorly. The province's well-handled response to COVID, greatly aided by the isolation of our province — formerly something that rarely worked in our favour — can likely be just as credited to the efforts of Dr. Janice Fitzgerald and John Haggie, perhaps even more so than Ball.

The efficiently managed COVID response is certainly one major boon for Furey and the Liberal party in this election, although the spectre of the Moya Greene report looms large over this election.

Even when defending the as-yet non-existent report, Furey makes its unknown nature sound scary, saying in turn that there is no "frightful" budget ahead and that there is "no bogeyman" hiding in the pages of Greene's report.

Of course, we have heard this song and dance before, when Ball was on the campaign trail promising no job cuts as well as future tax cuts. Furey's opposition leader, Ches Crosbie, is leaning on the "secret" nature of the report, with his campaign website alleging that the report contains plans to have "deep cuts" to services like "ferries and hospitals" while simultaneously alleging that the Liberals have "no plan."

While I agree with Crosbie's general suspicion of the Greene report, I think his attack lines fall flat, as we know them to be both contradictory and opportunistic. Crosbie's own suggested plans include tax cuts for big businesses like Loblaws, the same company that has already besmirched their local employees of an extra two dollars an hour. Indeed, it would appear that no matter which party wins, the Bay-geoisie will continue to profit.

It's up to the people 

So does the election matter? Would the candidates affect our lives if elected?

Despite the nihilism, of course the answer is yes, elections matter, and yes, different governing bodies will lead to different outcomes for the province.

While there would likely be no immediately felt change at the moment a regime changes, the change can be felt over time.

When Muskrat Falls comes online and power bills spike, we will have finally felt what it meant to have Williams as premier, albeit not until several years after he left office. What are we, the average citizens, to do about it? 

Perhaps the way forward is for citizens to raise issues and push the candidates toward ideas and goals that we desire.

Take for example, Furey's recent suggestion that school washrooms should provide tampons to whoever may need the product. This is a common-sense initiative, and although it does carry the potential to be divisive, when prodded on the matter Crosbie said he "probably" could support it. An underwhelming support of the issue, yes, but at the very least the issue is now part of the conversation.

It is up to the citizens to push and direct the conversations that the party leaders are having, and while our future seems to be one of precarity and hollow campaign promises, we must engage in democracy.

For despite all the campaign attack lines, there is one thing we know to be true: the province is in dire financial straits and big changes will have to be made. Changes that will likely please few.

No matter who winner is, the province loses.

Money, that is.

Indeed, that's all there ever is.

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