Snowbird vote may decide key ridings

Mary Vallis, National Post
Published: Thursday, December 01, 2005

CLEAR LAKE, Ont. - From his log home on the shore of a lake in southeastern Ontario, radio host Prior Smith's rich baritone could be the lone voice of the election for a crucial block of voters: Canada's snowbirds.

Mr. Smith is the man behind Canada Calling, a daily newscast for Canadians wintering in Florida, Georgia, Texas and Arizona.

"Those people are just as important, even though they are on vacation, as the people who are back home," Mr. Smith said.

With hundreds of thousands of snowbirds expected to be out of the country on Jan. 23, the day of the federal election, whether they cast ballots could affect the results in key races.

The snowbird vote could have a major impact in Quebec, where five ridings were decided by fewer than 1,000 votes in the last election. With the Liberals suffering the fallout of the sponsorship scandal, pollsters warn races against the Bloc Quebecois could be even tighter next year. "Older people in Quebec are less likely to vote separatist, so that certainly would be a concern of ours," said Marlene Catterall, a retiring Liberal MP. "It very well might be a deciding factor in some ridings."

Gerry Brissenden, the president of the Canadian Snowbird Association, echoed her concerns. The association said the vast majority of its 80,000 members were already on vacation when the government fell on Monday.

The first wave of travellers usually leaves Canada shortly after Thanksgiving.

"Normally, we'd attend town hall meetings or we'd have people coming to the door, telling us what their platforms are going to be.

"We certainly won't get that information," Mr. Brissenden said from his winter retreat in Ellenton, Fla. "Really, what you're doing is literally voting for a party instead of someone in your area."

Mr. Brissenden said he is concerned some travelling Canadians might not hear about the election, or if they have, might not know how to vote.

"If you read an American newspaper, you won't see anything about the Canadian election until it's over," he said. "Unless Canadians go online -- and a lot of seniors don't go online, it's not their thing; they weren't brought up with computers -- they just don't won't know what to do."

That's where Mr. Smith and Canada Calling come in. His daily 5 1/2-minute news report, aired on about 20 American radio stations, will offer campaign updates, as well as some information on how Canadians can vote, over the next eight weeks.

From his perch at the end of a twisty dirt road in Clear Lake, about 20 kilometres north of Peterborough, Mr. Smith keeps tabs on campaign news by reading newspapers and monitoring other newscasts. Then he bangs out his own report on an old Underwood in his home studio. (The rest of his system is state-of-the-art, but he's attached to the old typewriter). Mr. Smith records the newscast and posts an electronic file on his Web site.

Mr. Smith prefers not to cover the "theatrics" in the House of Commons during his broadcast, but said he will make the election a focal point over the next two months. He strives to cover news that Canadian travellers will not be able to get in American newspapers or on CNN.

Indeed, the election was the lead news item on Canada Calling yesterday: "Given the weather conditions we can expect over the next eight weeks, this will be a tough campaign for just about everyone involved," Mr. Smith noted as he read the broadcast in his leather slippers. "Strangely, yesterday, on the day the election was struck, the temperature in Toronto reached the highest level recorded since 1941..."

Elections Canada is well aware of the snowbirds and is preparing for a higher than usual number of mail-in ballots. Recovering from an election that suffered the lowest voter turnout rate in Canadian history, the agency is paying special attention to out-of-country voters. It has already posted a special link for snowbirds on its Web site (www.elections.ca).

Canadians who are already out of the country can apply for mail-in ballots by downloading a form. Voters must give postal services enough time to deliver their ballots and get them back to Canada. Their votes will not be counted if they are received after 6 p.m. on Jan. 23.

Canadians who are still in the country but plan on leaving before election day can vote by visiting the returning officers in their ridings or casting ballots in advance polls.

Ms. Catterall said she is confident most travelling seniors will cast ballots, despite the hassle.

"Seniors, more than any other segment of the population, take their votes very seriously," Ms. Catterall said. "They lived through the war. They know what our soldiers fought and died for."