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Canada
Canadians Have Spoken
May 8th
Election 41 is over now and we got pretty much what I expected, a majority Conservative Party government. Was it the right decision by Canadians? I think so but only the next 4 years will actually tell whether or not we made that right decision.
The biggest surprises of the election? The Liberal Party being soundly beaten by the NDP as the opposition party by a tune of 34 seats to 102 seats. To me it shows how much Michael Ignatieff was disliked as the party leader and his candidates paid the price. Even worse for them was the NDP admitting they would never be able to pay for all their promises yet they were still able to dominate the Liberals. The fact that the people in Ignatieff’s home riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore didn’t elect them as their MP is proof of the dislike of the party leader. The day after the election he resigned as party leader. I guess he can head back to Harvard to teach again.
The next surprise was the Bloc Québécois dropping from 49 seats down to 4. This clearly shows that the people of La Belle Province want to be part of this great country of Canada. Surprising too was that it was the NDP that picked up the seats in the province and not the Conservatives or Liberals. Totally amazing! Like Michael Ignatieff, Gilles Duceppe was also beaten in his home riding of Laurier–Sainte-Marie. The people spoke and he too resigned as party leader following the election.
Some will say that Elizabeth May winning a first ever seat for the Green Party was a surprise. I had expected this all along. Yes, she beat a Conservative Cabinet Minister but she ran a good race and the Green Party had been close before. It is always good to have a major party leader represent your riding. I guess the broadcasters will have to come up with another reason to exclude her from the next debate.
So what do I expect from the new majority government? I do expect much of what we have seen from Stephen Harper the last couple of years. We will get arrogance for sure. But we will also get a stable economy, an economy that has been one of the strongest in the world. There will also be some promises broken but many of those were made in the prospect or garnering votes that never materialized. I don’t expect the election promise of $150 million to build the year round road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk to be kept because the riding didn’t elect the conservative candidate Sandy Lee. You scratch my back and I will scratch yours. This type of promise breaking will happen all over the country wherever this has happened.
This type of thing happens all the time and you live with it. People will be up in arms over the broken promises but if you want what you are promised you need to elect those who make the promises and form the government. Hopefully we as Canadians made the right decision for Canada and we become and even stronger country with an even stronger economy. I guess the next 4 years will tell.
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It’s Time to Vote! Make it Count!
May 1st
We at the final day of the election campaigning for Election 41 in Canada. One thing that has caught my attention lately is Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party criticizing the opposition of a government formed by a coalition of the opposition parties because coalition governments don’t work.
While this may be true with our current form of electing our MPs, this would work with a government elected through proportional representation as is proven by many successful governments around the world that work with coalitions all the time. It is because no one party has a large enough of a control to make the coalition volatile.
But until this happens, I happen to agree with many of Conservative Party policies. According to many major newspapers across Canada, the do to as posted in an article today showing a recap of various editorials. While I think that Stephen Harper can be aloof and even arrogant at times, the Conservative platform is what is going to be needed in Canada.
I do like some of the policies, however, of the NDP but the problem is that they have been unable to explain how many of the things they want to do will be paid for. The last time I checked, everything costs money and that will only come through the reduction of existing services or the raising of taxes. Since the NDP platform promises everything, nothing will be reduced which means higher taxes for all of us.
The Liberal Party is and always has been there to look after Ontario and Quebec. This is the same this year and like the NDP have promised the world without thinking about where the money to fund everything is going to come from. Both the NDP and Liberals want to reduce the development and production of the Oil Sands in Alberta but they don’t bother to think about the impact this has on the economy and employment in Alberta or the tax revenues that the Government of Canada receive from it. I actually agree that over time the need for development of the Oil Sands will need to be reduced however until such time as a viable and affordable alternative to fossil fuels is being produced, the Oil Sands and other projects like the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline are needed and help fund our governments.
Again, I am all for the Green Party and their ideals. But at the present time we have to just hope that Elizabeth May can get her seat to become the first Green Party MP and go from there. As the push for alternative sources of energy becomes more prominent the Green Party will continue to grow however like the Red and Orange parties, funding for some of their initiatives has not been explained. Maybe in 10 years the Green will stand a chance of being a viable alternative to the major parties but until they can explain how government will be funded without the taxes that come from the industries and businesses that they would prefer to eliminate and how the jobs they will chop with those businesses will be replaced. The ideals for both the Greens and NDP are there…just not explained.
So on the last day I think I have made my decision. I received the obligatory Liberal Party, NDP and Green Party propaganda stuffed in my door although I will say the Green Party got here a couple of weeks ago whereas both the Liberal and NDP showed up yesterday trying to get my vote. Last day is kind of late I am afraid. I doubt anyone who is voting tomorrow hasn’t made up their minds. The same thing with the Conservatives who phoned me with a pre-recorded message that politely told me the benefits of voting for the Conservatives and giving them a majority government.
So while we spent the last 35 days listening to promises from everyone you need to vote. It doesn’t matter who you vote for as long as the decision is your own and you are deciding for reasons that make sense to you. You can’t vote a specific way if you don’t understand the issues. If you have not followed along, then visit the party websites and do some reading so you can make at least a semi-educated decision. Voting without reason is as bad as not voting.
THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT SO GET INFORMED AND MAKE A DECISION TO VOTE. USE YOUR DEMOCRATIC RIGHT TO VOTE.
