Hey, fellow Canadians, an election is coming up, and fast. I hope you plan on voting. I understand why you might not want to, though. It’s true, I can’t fault anyone for feeling that way in the least; in our federal politics especially, it’s easy to feel that the situation is hopeless, to be cynical about our candidates, parties, and their leaders. I know I do.
But you know what? Sometimes you just need to suck it up and pick the best option from the worst choices. At least doing so will be more likely to get you one step closer to making things better; with apathy, however, the situation will only get worse.
And worse it will get if Harper is allowed to have a majority government. That’s right, dear readers, I threw it on the ground. Shit just got real on my blog. I rarely express a political preference here, but this is one time that I have to speak out (at the risk of opening a shitstorm in the comments or at least instilling mild disappointment from some friends and family). As much as I believe in voting for the party you think best represents your views, this is one time that I have to advocate an anybody-but-Conservative policy using strategic voting.
Why do I hate Harper and his Conservatives?
- Complete disdain for women’s rights and first nations1
- Climate change denier, reduced funding for scientific research, gagged Environment Canada on climate change2
- $29Bn for fighter jets3
- Building prisons and increasing funding for the prison system despite crime actually being on the decline4
- Attempted to quietly remove the long-form census, which would severely limit the government’s ability to make informed decisions5
- Weakened food safety regulations6
- Attempting to weaken privacy laws7
- Promised honesty, openness and accountability, has done the complete opposite8
- Tax breaks for the wealthy while doing little or nothing to create and keep jobs in Canada9
- His ego is just frightening10
- The G20 summit – shamefulwaste of money, shameful violation of Canadians’ rights11
- Promised a reformed senate, has instead appointed additional senators12
- Lost Canada’s Security Council seat, and emerassed all of Canada on the international stage13
And these are all things he has managed to do with just a minority government. Imagine the damage he can do to Canada with a majority.
On a more local note, remember how Harper and his party have treated Edmonton?
Remember how Edmonton offered up not one but two excellent bids for the new National Portrait Gallery, when the Conservatives asked for cities to rally private bids to host it? Remember how they shut down the competion when it became clear that Calgary was not going to be able to get a bid in, and that Edmonton in all liklihood was set to win?14
Remember how the Conservatives asked cities to put together bids for Expo 2017 for Canada’s 150th birthday? And remember how Edmonton was the only city to step up to the challenge, only to have the entire thing shut down by the Conversatives when it was clear Edmonton was going to get it?15
These guys have done nothing for Edmonton, and what they want to do for Canada frankly scares me, and should frankly scare the bejesus out of you too.
Please vote, this election could literally make or break Canada. Information on how to vote, where to vote, and who you can vote for can all be found here.
Sources for the above can be found after the jump.
1
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/804414–conservatives-accused-of-culture-of-intimidation?bn=1
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/project-for-slain-women-faces-end-84292267.html
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/derrick/2009/09/harper-denial-g20-canada-has-no-history-colonialism
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/CTVNewsAt11/20040227/harper_gaffe_040226/
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/making-waves/2011/03/first-nations-drinking-water-and-federal-election
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/undoing-kelowna.html
2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/26/canada-criticised-over-climate-change
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2009/03/17/tech-090317-gary-goodyear-evolution.html
3
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/ottawas-fighter-jet-estimate-all-hogwash-us-watchdog-warns/article1971274/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Politics&utm_content=1971274
4
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Prison+spending+spree+wastes+scarce+dollars/4089927/story.html
5
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/page/view/long-form-census-07-19-2010
6
http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=2fa3e7f8-9c83-4ea9-ad60-c13b548fe688
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=f6a4a56e-c4bc-4742-869f-ef2e5e686e2a
7
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/11/01/justice-nicholson-justice-isp.html
8
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/former-tory-mps-speak-out-against-in-and-out-campaign-financing/article1929865/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/04/05/former-aides-criminal-past-dogs-harper-on-campaign-trail/
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20071214/taser_lobby_071214?hub=Toronto
9
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2009/12/28/NoCorporateInvesting/
http://cupe.ca/child-care/Harpers_1_billion_ch
10
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=9c6b53f6-f0a2-4eca-93bb-559023144731
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/03/04/pol-harper-govt-brand.html
11
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/904988–dimanno-more-needed-than-glib-answer-on-g20
12
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1306
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-to-revive-senate-reform-plan/article1420300/
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/687216
13
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/security-council-rejection-a-deep-embarrassment-for-harper/article1754419/
http://www.680news.com/news/national/article/67295–sachs-slams-harper-g8-maternal-health-plan-criticizes-planned-aid-freeze?ref=topic&name=ra&title=
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-complicit-in-torture-of-innocent-afghans-diplomat-says/article1369069/
14
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2008/11/08/edm-portrait-gallery-reax.html
15
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2010/11/22/edmonton-feds-kill-expo-bid.html