All over the world and throughout history, people have fought for the right to have a vote. In many countries people brave hunger, illness, penalties, torture or even death by force, sometimes walking for miles and miles to stand in line for hours and hours to have their say. In this country, we are very fortunate to have none of that, thanks to people who fought for these rights in our past, and are fighting for them right now. Voting in this country means at most a 10 minute drive in the comfort of our cars, or going down to the lobby of our own apartment buildings.

My daughter, I am very proud of her, is twenty years old. This is her first election. She is currently out of the country, trekking through Nepal. She was smart and involved enough to request her ballot from Elections Canada and send it in before she left. She’s 8000 miles away, on the roof of the world, and she voted.

There is no excuse not to vote. On October 14th, go out and vote.