no not the conservatives

Oh my God, the advance poll results show that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives leading. The man is a former Reform party MP who glorifies the Republican party, supports the war in Iraq, described our country as a welfare state, and has his wife sending memos to Christian churches to drum up support for him. While I'm pissed at the Liberals for the (overblown, old news, let's get on with things) scandals and I'm mad at Paul Martin for not handling the Head Tax issue effectively, that is something we can deal with again once he's in office, it's not a good enough reason to support an extreme right-winger. Trust me, Harper doesn't give a flying shit about the Chinese in Canada (since when did anyone from the former Reform party give a shit about anyone who wasn't rich and white?), he's just saying whatever it takes to get our vote.

We need to examine the leaders' platforms. A 2% GST cut is (1) insignificant to us (2) going to take money away from the great things that Canada puts tax money towards -- Childcare, healthcare, education. Trust me, I live in the US now and I miss things like subsidized tuition. I did not like doing math in my head to calculate my potential medical bill as blood poured out of a gash in my finger (and I ultimately decided I couldn't afford stitches). I see the mess that is the US public school system. Canadians who have never lived elsewhere take for granted the benefits they enjoy from the high taxes. We don't want to be emulating the United States where everyone, rich, poor and poorer is left to fend for him/herself. I used to complain about the taxes and GST too, but after living here, I'd take the current Canadian system in a heartbeat. His promise to give families an extra $100 a month for childcare is a joke, that would cover less than a week of childcare. Better to put the dollars into subsidized programs that are used by people who actually need them. We don't need an ultra conservative Bush wannabe running our country. Harper would turn around everything that makes Canada a great and liveable country. I agree that we're choosing the lesser of the evils (that's politics afterall), but please, whatever you do, don't vote Conservative. While his image consultants trained him to seem less cold hearted and angry, his ideas are the same. He does not "stand up for Canada."

Need an intro to Canadian politics? http://www.blindeye.net/index.php?cat=4 and start at the bottom of the page where he introduces the parties and leaders. The author seems to lean slightly towards the Green Party (they're not so bad but haven't a chance in hell) but his commentary is funny and he's equally critical of all the parties. Like I said, it's voting for the lesser of the evils, the Conservatives (do not forget the Reform party is rolled in there) being most evil! Please don't fall for the "we need a change in government" rhetoric and remember the NDP (while Layton is charming and an impressive new face for the party) also don't have a chance.