I am one of the lucky people in Skeena-Bulkley Valley.

I actually got to attend the federal all-candidates meeting on Sept. 29 at Lakes District Secondary school, and thus was able to meet four candidates with whom I’d not previously been acquainted.

There are six candidates running locally, and in many ways they’re as different as oil and water, as are the policies they espouse on behalf of the political parties who have accepted their candidacies.

I attended that meeting as part of my job, but I would’ve been there anyway on Monday night, as political party meetings and I go back a long way.

My grandfather told me a story about his father taking him as an eight-year-old to see Sir John A. MacDonald in his last campaign in 1891.

When I was living in Kingston, Ontario, my parents took me to the local hockey arena to see the leaders of the two main federal parties, Mr. Pearson and Mr. Diefenbaker, campaign on behalf of their area candidates in the 1963 federal election.

Our school’s history teacher had the four grade 8 classes hold a mock election that year. I was the Liberal leader and like Mr. Pearson, I was elected prime minister of a minority government.

As a result of those experiences, I have always believed it was my duty as a citizen to be as informed as possible before I marked my ‘x’ on an election ballot, especially since my father’s generation defended our right to vote during World War II.

I saw a few veterans, and veterans’ wives, in attendance at our all-candidates meeting, no doubt remembering the sacrifices their comrades and spouses made, and what filled my heart with hope was one father with his elementary school-age daughter in attendance.

Unfortunately, the percentage of Canadians going to the polls has steadily been whittled away over the years, to the point where it hovers around 40 per cent of people don’t vote.

I hear a lot of talk around the coffee shops in town about the various candidates and parties being ‘the same old bunch’, ‘no one can make a difference’.

Rather then sitting back complaining get out there and vote - let your voice be heard.

Sitting around a coffee shop complaining is not going to change our world but you can do your part by getting out there and casting your vote.

Also we should be encouraging young people to take an interest in our country’s politics, whether it’s a teacher running a mock election and giving their class a lecture on elections and democracy; or by parents sitting down with children to watch the debates, leaders and candidates, when they appear in our newspapers or on TV.

The best way to encourage our children to vote is to get out to vote ourselves on Oct. 14.