Federal Election Post

Well, I just sealed and mailed my ballot; just in time too because tomorrow I'm back in class. (After being out of the classroom for just under a month I am excited to head back.) Props to Elections Canada for making the whole process relatively easy. I was even able to vote in my home district of Stony Plain.

It was a very tough decision; I even included the option of spoiling the ballot if I was unable settle on a choice. The difficultly arose because in my district, even with four parties running, I still felt as though no one was talking about my top issue. While I believe issues surrounding healthcare and gun violence to be important, I do see them as 'the' pressing issue for me, nor the defining issues for Alberta. I found this election to be very ugly, which was just depressing and pitiful and only fault of the parties - what polls are they reading? - because certainly I didn't want to see this stuff. Why the fear tactics? Liberal Entitlement! Neo-Cons! I know I have been saying this for years, so for some this will be old hat, but when I look at the type of people Alberta as I do not get fearful, in fact the opposite, and I am skeptical toward anyone that tells me otherwise.

I dislike the election for the very start; when each party tried to blame the other for triggering an election. The problem with that is that I don't mind elections. Yup, that's right, I have no problem voting every eighteen months. In fact, I don't mind voting more often on more issues. I don't mind spending energy researching issues important to me nor spending four dollars on postage. And while I like Harper's style of Conservatism - I appreciate how he doesn't end every speech with 'God Bless Canada' - he was like a broken record this elections about Liberal accountability (I'll get to the Liberals in a second). I hate to tell you Harper, but the public isn't dumb, and if they perceive the Liberals as trustworthy, this is a democracy, and you are just going to have to live with it. Furthermore, Harper is completely untested in the international arena. For example, in regards to the soft-wood lumber dispute, he said he would hold meetings. Great, the U.S. takes what four-five billion dollars out of the Canadian economy (to give back directly back to American industry) and you're going to hold meetings. The current administration has only every shown a desire to move unilaterally, and you're going to hold meetings. I'm not Anti-American, if the administration puts out a good policy, by all means, follow it, but Harper shows every sign of either being Bush's lapdog or clueless about foreign affairs.

Liberals. Yikes. I was pissed about Chrétien losing that money. I am a poor student, I have no money, and here he is just giving it away to his friends. Not cool. (My theory on this is that this is what happens, Liberal or Conservative, when a party has been in power for that long.) I thought it appropriate this election that all Liberal candidates got grilled by their constituents on this issue. And while I fully believe Gomery, and agree with the Liberals saying there is no evidence that the Prime Minister knew anything about it. That's exactly the problem for me: He was the Finance Minister, it was a lot of money and he should of bloody well known what was going on. And the Liberals are clueless about gun violence, with these universal proposals for something that must, and can only be solved on the community level.

The NDP guy in my riding was some social justice advocate, and well I agree with and support social justice causes, it's far too narrow a background to run a government. Don't you think that it's odd that both the Conservatives and NPD promise balance budgets that are tentative and risky at best? What could it mean that that these two polar opposites are agreeing?

Lastly the Green party: I will start at the top and say that their leader, Jim Harris, is a freak and I don't trust him (thankfully he'll never get elected). Their candidates range from upstanding, intelligent and innovative citizens (with a grip on reality) to freaky narrow-mind, power-hungry sycophants. That may sound harsh, but I think it's accurate. There is probably potential in this party, but not with it's current power structure. Many of its members have, in my opinion, highly suspect motivates.

So what do I want to see from this election; firstly, I would like to see a minority government (Liberal, Conservative, doesn't really matter to me). As I have already mentioned, I have no problem voting often and researching details. I think I minority government, with all it's pity falls, is the only sure way to hold government accountable. My last desire is more abstract; I hope see the public turn away from (any sort of vestige of) a two-party system. I know this is more abstract than concrete party policy, but I consider it an essential factor in the health of Canadian democracy (and thus essential for Canadian innovation). It is shear madness to entertain the thought that the entire diversity of Canada can be contained within two opposite parties. For example, my views are - I don't think they're radical - but most of my views are shared evenly between all the political parties: My point being that more Canadians would find themselves in this situation in a two-party system. That idea of Canada having only two parties is a specter that keeps me awake at night. I think back to the turn of the last century when the Canadian parliament was filled with thirty-plus different parties; a time of tremendous economic growth in Canada too. The only wish that can really be measured is the first and we'll see how it unfolds on election day.

I promise there won't be anymore political interpretation on this site until the next election (but it is my blog after all). So who did I vote for? That, my friends, will not be revealed, because I value and tressure in Canada the use of the secret ballots.