You can consult a number of News sites devoted to the 2011 Election:
Eric Grenier is the creator of ThreeHundredEight.com and the CBC Poll Tracker with a rich array of polling data and analysis of what it likely means.
Wikipedia has a site that is aggregating the data from various polling firms. To fact check the data, you can also view any one of the polling companies listed in this libguide.
Start Preparing for Your Vote a Number of Ways
1. Read news reports on a daily basis. Remember to check more than one to ensure objectivity!
2. To learn how a party is doing, check out any number of Canadian Polling Sites.
3. To learn more about each party, visit Political Party Sites set up by Elections Canada and read their policy documents.
4. To learn about how to register, where to vote, etc, check out the information provided about Voting by Elections Canada.
5. Learn about the issues facing Students at the Canadian Federation of Students Home Page. Learn what they have to say about the Fair Elections Act.
6. Check out some really great additional resources listed directly below including information on how to target your vote for the most impact.
CBC recently created the CBC Vote Compass. It consists of a questionaire and once you fill it out (it takes ten minutes) you are told which party is closest to you in terms of the policies you support. You can even chose which policies are more or lesss important to you.
Upon completion, your voting preference is laid out on a graph along with different political parties. If you click on each party, you can learn what policies they are for and against and how it compares to your preferences.
If you want to learn whether claims or true or false, the best thing to do is to read multiple articles on an issue as they will take into account different perspectives. Another way to learn about true or false claims to use a third party Fact Check site (not one run by any political party).
Each media outlet has vowed to check the accuracy of claims on a day to day basis and report on them in the news. In addition a non-profit FACTSCAN will check the facts on claims and rate them.
poliTwitter.ca provides one easy location keep track of what your politicians are saying on social media and what regular Canadians have to say about current politics. It not only tracks MPs & Canadian politics on Twitter but also Facebook, Youtube, flickr, blogs and hansard from parliament.
This non-partisan service strives to connect elected MPs & MLAs with the Canadian people. It also provides provides stats about which campaign issues are being discussed the most.
Tired of being told your vote does not matter? That your riding always elects Party X? Try new strategies can make a change.
With districts very close in numbers, strategic voting can be very effective.
Student Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that aims to build the capacity and commitment of young Canadians to participate in their democracy.
Student Vote’s flagship program is a parallel election for students under the voting age, coinciding with official election periods. The program combines in-class learning, family dialogue, media consumption and an authentic voting experience. The purpose is to provide young Canadians with an opportunity to experience the democratic process firsthand and practice the habits of informed and engaged citizenship.
Student Vote is a great resource for those who are eager to encourage the youth vote in Canada.
"Democracy is the Worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
Winston Churchill
Democracy can be messy but one thing still holds true: if you do not like who is in power you at least have the ability to vote someone out of office next election.
The Right to Vote is a privaledge we often take for granted. It should be exercised by every citizen because those we elect inevitably make decisions that impact us all.
So register to vote. Democracy may require time, but it is better than all the other alternatives.