Let’s face it: finals are as much a time of procrastination as they are of studying. Whether it’s watching Netflix, doing the laundry you’ve been putting off for just an occasion like this, or taking Buzzfeed quizzes with titles like “Let Us Guess the Date You’ll Die by the Last Food You Ate” – putting off important work comes in all shapes and sizes. Luckily, there’s one thing you can do to procrastinate while participating in democratic discussion: take the Government of Canada’s new online questionnaire.
On December 5th, the website mydemocracy.ca was launched with the intention of engaging Canadians in a conversation about our democracy. To publicize the initiative, the government sent out 15 million postcards to every household in Canada and has also been promoting it with Twitter ads. However, just in case you haven’t heard about it, here’s a breakdown of the site. It contains a survey that covers topics related to democracy, such as lowering the voting age, inter-party collaboration, and diversity in Canadian politics. The site was developed by Vox Pop labs, developer of the “vote compass” tool used by CBC, which allowed Canadians to see how their political values aligned with those of political parties.
The survey, which will only take about ten minutes, is split into four different parts. The first section, Values, asks you to rate sentences on the subject of Canadian democracy from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” In the next section, Preferences, you choose the idea you most prefer from two statements. The Priorities section allows you to select the values you feel are most important to our democracy. There is then a completely optional profile section which asks about demographic information including gender and age, after which you’ll be taken to your results page. This assigns you one of five archetypes: Challengers, Cooperators, Guardians, Innovators, and Pragmatists. You can also view information about your type including median age, gender breakdown, priorities, and themes compared to other archetypes.
You’ll have to go to the website yourself to determine your type and read about the specifics. The survey will close on December 30th, so whether you complete it as procrastination during exam season or as you relax on your holiday break, you can be confident that you’ve ended 2016 by having your say about our democracy.