It's Day 16 of the election campaign and tonight, it was Your Turn to tell us whether you think mandatory voting would be good for Canada. Countries like Australia, Cuba and Belgium require the participation of their citizens in the election process by law. Would such a rule improve the electoral process in Canada, where less than 65 per cent of the population votes?

Larry Gordon, executive director of Fair Vote Canada joined Suhana to talk about the issue and said proportional representation, and making voters feel their vote counts, is more important to the process than regulating the input of Canadians.

We saw David from Peterborough and Wayne from Cole Harbour by Skype. We also heard from Jean from Aylmer, QC who couldn’t believe the apathy of voter turnout, Nick from Burnaby, BC who was opposed to mandatory voting despite the ‘democratic deficit’, and Connie from Saint John, NB who said that some people are just too stupid or too lazy, and forcing them to vote wouldn’t accomplish anything.

A couple emails we ran out of time before getting on the air:

The idea looks good, but if you vote and don't know what you are voting for, it is worse than not voting at all.
— Max Geras, Birtle, MB

Voting is a right, not a duty. However, non-voters have forfeited their right to speak up and should take what the government dishes out to them.
— Toni, London,Ont.

If voting was mandatory, I don’t believe it would properly portray what Canadians want. Those who vote now, do so because they actually care about who will lead this country. The rest of Canada rely on these individuals to make the right choice for those who don't vote. Forcing the majority to vote will overshadow the productive votes with careless votes.
— Joel Thorp, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Stay tuned through the rest of the week as we hear what you have to say about the effect of attack ads, the priority of the environment, and the impact of the American election. Your views, your thoughts, your principles, Your Turn.