As is painfully clear from the U.S. and Canada, democracy is in severe trouble.

Most Canadian elections leave 60 per cent of voters with no voice (both Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford won “majorities” with a mere 40 per cent of the vote). And although the prime minister is the most powerful person in Canada, citizens have no voice in the selection.

There are few investigative reporters to speak truth to power. For example, most CBC reporters seldom address climate change — by far the most pressing issue for humanity — and tend to follow Big Oil’s lead.

Most political candidates, and much of the citizenry, appear to be scientifically illiterate. As we saw in the last federal election, once voted in, self-interested governments continue without promised change.

Finally, less than 60 per cent of eligible voters vote.

How do we break this cycle? We break it with true leadership, which is severely lacking. We need to actively recruit knowledgeable and talented humanitarians, not self-interested ideologues, or merely famous people, as candidates.

I suggest that the federal government, or perhaps the UN, invest in creating a powerful, nonpartisan and unbiased AI to assist in ranking, or even suggesting, political candidates.

Ed Shields, Neebing, Ont.

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