Writers
Jo-Ann Roberts is an award-winning journalist passionate about democracy, public broadcasting, and fighting climate change. She spent 20 years as a CBC Radio host, covering the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2011 NHL Riots in Vancouver, and numerous elections. She has been a candidate in four elections over the past six years, a runner-up but never a winner. She is also the former Interim Leader of the Green Party of Canada.
She has an MFA in Creative Non-fiction from King’s College, class of 2023. Her book, Storm the Ballot Box: An Insider’s Guide to a Voting Revolution, came out in March this year, just before the federal election was called. Her goal is to get Canadians excited about voting and demanding improvements to democracy.
And it appears that she is making a difference; voter turnout was up, albeit slightly. Advance voting, however, was up significantly on Good Friday and Easter Monday, which just happened to be holidays. In her book, Jo-Ann recommends that election day should always be a holiday. This past election may have just proved her point. Wait until you hear her other 19 recommendations.