Elections are looming, have you noticed?

It’s surprisingly easy to forget that a federal election is on the horizon.

Part of the reason for that is Canadian election rules, of course. Even though we know that an election is coming, and that subtle campaigning happens no matter what, the campaign can’t actually happen until the writ is actually dropped. While we know that we’re going to the polls in October, we don’t actually have an election yet, and so, as a sensible country we aren’t going into campaign mode for no reason.

One hopes that people start getting a bit more into it once the writ is actually dropped, whenever that happens to be.

That’s a healthy reason, the less healthy reason is our current fascination with politics elsewhere. You are more likely to see people talking about the mess south of the border or the different mess surrounding Brexit across the Atlantic. While both are fascinating, the problem is that they’re stealing a lot of air from our own country. As much fun as it might be to spy on your neighbours, we have things happening in our own house, and the election is looming.

This is not going to be an editorial advocating for one candidate or another, of course, that would be inappropriate. The plan is to allow all of the candidates in this election an opportunity to say their piece, after the election is called and all of the nominees are in place. That’s not currently the case, as two parties at least have not declared their nominees.

That’s a problem specific to the Yorkton-Melville riding, that there’s a perception that this is a safe seat. It’s going to stay a safe seat as long as nobody really tries to challenge the incumbent. This is not a comment on the performance of the current MP, but instead an observation that it’s surprisingly easy to ignore the election in a riding where people just assume the same party is going to take it every time.

That’s dangerous, and irresponsible. If this riding votes for the same person again, it should be because they believe that person has done a great job over the past four years in their role, not because it’s just the person that always gets the votes. If Yorkton-Melville gets a reputation as a safe seat, it needs to be because our MP is getting a reputation as an excellent one, and they should still have a healthy contingent of challengers willing to take them to task and set their own name forward.

With an election forthcoming, it’s now our duty to look at the candidates, their parties, their platforms, and their positions, and vote accordingly. It might not be like watching the train wrecks occurring in the rest of the world, but it’s still important, and whoever finally gets your vote, they need to earn it.