THUNDER BAY — Many local residents say they are unprepared or under-informed about the provincial election coming up on Thursday.
Newswatch spoke with dozens of people on the eve of election day to ask about their voting intentions and several said they hadn't thought much about it or weren't aware of the election at all.
Many others expressed frustration and said anything they had to say would be too impolite to print.
Some said they feel unprepared to vote because they haven't received their voter information cards or received them late. Although, it should be noted that a voter information card is not required to vote.
Only one person said they were looking forward to voting.
While she didn't want to talk about who she was voting for, Abbey, a young woman in her late twenties, said she does plan to vote.
“I usually go in person to do it with my mom,” said Abbey.
She said accessibility is the only real concern for her in this campaign.
“I do get a little bit of help from my mom, but that’s pretty much it because my hands,” said Abbey.
A couple people said the suddenness of the election was complicating their decisions and that they didn't like what they were seeing from candidates.
An older woman in her late 70s was one of several who said they were debating voting at all this year because of how candidates are presenting themselves on TV and in the media, amid the chaos occurring globally.
“Not just here in Canada. You got the USA, you’ve got overseas and (it) makes you wonder what’s going to happen,” said the woman.
“And then all this upheaval, even with our Ontario and Trudeau resigning and that. I wish they would have waited myself until (it) was voting time again.”
For her, one of the biggest factors that concerned her this election was the threats made by the USA.
“As for the USA, well, I got nothing,” she added.
“… I think there’s great people that live there. I just don’t like Trump and his supporters. They’re going about it the wrong way.”
In her experience, she said a lot of Canadians don’t like them or want to become the 51st state, including her, as she worries all the efforts her dad made in the army in the Second World War would be minimized with a takeover by the USA.
Another discouraging factor for her is the conflicts and destruction going on "across the ocean."
“I’ll be down below in the ground hundreds of years before they ever rebuild that again. I mean, it’s a shame and all these innocent people that are dying,” she said.
Polls will close tomorrow at 9 p.m. EST or 8 p.m. CST.
