JOHNSON – Sooo … I went to ‘vote’ at the TNRD offices the other day….

TODAY, I STOPPED by the TNRD Administration building above the library downtown.  I was dropping off our dutifully completed forms regarding the TNRD’s use of the Alternative Approval Process to gain the $6.3 million to build a shared Regional Search and Rescue Hall/Training Facility in Rayleigh.

To be clear, I don’t mind the idea of a Search and Rescue facility in Rayleigh, but I am definitely done with the AAP process, so my vote against this is a protest vote against a tool that is being misused and, in my opinion, circumvents democracy.

Theres are municipal/ regional elections coming up … just make it a referendum item on each.  This is clearly a blatant job at ramming through a thing that might not survive a referendum, five months before an election.  Opportunism at its finest.

But that’s not why we are here today.  That’s a different column.

The story is, I came out of the TNRD elevator at the 4^th floor, and approached a couple of nice ladies at the reception desk surrounded by a Covid style glass wall, the foyer otherwise vacant.  I offered up our two AAP responses, as per stated on the form; ‘email, mail or in person’.

I knew I would be downtown, get er dun.

The first lady looked at it and turned to the other lady with a ‘what do I do with this’ look.  She’s likely newer … cool.  The other lady took out a stamp and stamped both of them.  I assume it was a date stamp … bureaucracy … eyeroll but cool.

Then both forms were set aside on the same counter in front of me and I was asked if I needed anything else. “No thanks,” I said, and glanced down to the top paper, where I could see my name and address clearly … it was right there, through the glass, but I was being kindly ‘moved along’ … so I did.

As I left the building, it hit me … “wait … I just VOTED, did I not?”

No paper box with a slot, sealed with destruction tape if removed, for me to put our forms into.  No note or letter on said box of how this process was being handled.  No language or statements I would expect parallel to the likes of Elections BC or Elections Canada.

Now, obviously this AAP process is not at the level of provincial, national or even municipal election systems and security mandates; I’m not even sure if the legal definition of what we did was ‘vote’.  But then again … didn’t we?

Isn’t it like a reverse referendum, so may be aligned to a legal ‘vote’?  I don’t know the legal ins and outs of that, but from the user perspective … it sure felt like it.

So I’m going to use that word here … we ‘voted’.

Looking around the front area of this TNRD office there was not even (obviously) a thing posted about how this process ensures that the Protection of Privacy Act is being upheld.  The fact that I voted against the rescue center, plus my name and my address was there for all to see … right beside the glass, in full view of the next person in line … if there was one, and then I was shewed away.

I don’t know what happened to our votes.

I don’t know if one of these lovely ladies have husbands or brothers who need that rescue station to ensure future familial employment … so these two negative votes might have been filed under ‘G’ ??

Now, I’m not claiming anything like that, but in this country, we develop systems and routines that ensure that any democratic voting system is absolutely free of any such concerns.  This is the cornerstone of our freedoms and the electoral system that governs us.

When we vote, we just don’t think such thoughts.

We live with assurance that when we make an electoral choice … any choice like this … it will get to where it needs to go, and the process is transparent — a sealed cardboard box with a slot, and a process of who opens it to do the count, and how that happens.

On this day at TNRD, a box of this type, and the process to facilitate it should have been set up, organized and out there BEFORE I could get to the TNRD website to download the form.

I half expect to get a knock on the door from the burly armed enforcement department of the party faithful, questioning me on why I don’t like firetrucks.

I’m kidding … but am I?

Democracy is a slippery slope towards corruption and demagoguery if we don’t mind the details.  A few husky paid meathead guys and a few vote boxes in the back of a truck … a conversation outside the polling booth about the ‘safest vote to make’ … may seem pretty extreme to us, and it is, but how many small steps are we away from that?

Look at where America is:  Distrusting voting systems, ‘irregularities’ that are never satisfied or fully discounted. A leader who has no real interest in election facts; ‘just find me 11,780 votes’ in Georgia, said Trump.  That’s where it starts.

The details matter.  TNRD, get your act in shape.  You asked for a vote.  Treat it as such.

David Johnson is a Kamloops resident, community volunteer and self described maven of all things Canadian.