Politics

We have another federal election coming up in a few weeks. I know I have vented a lot in the past on issues that could be interpreted as being political in nature but I have never seen myself as political. However, I am definitely opinionated when it comes to what the job of representing me in the House of Commons entails.

What I hate about elections and how our government is run is the fact that my personal representative in the House of Commons represents a political party and only a political party. I have no representation at all. This frustrates me to no end. Why the heck are we paying the salaries of 338 MPs if they are all just going to vote their party line? Why not give the party leaders x amount of votes and leave it at that? It would save a heck of a lot of money and end the charade that we somehow have individual representation. Before you tow the party line and tell me that my MP is my access to the party leader, stop being so naive. People who tell me that have never taken the time to meet their MP about their concerns. I have. They barely have better access to their party leader than you do. Unless your MP is a minister or better yet, the Prime Minister, you have no access period.

So if you are running for a political party that has a known liar as its leader, I am not going to vote for you. If you are running for a political party that is claiming to be “fiscally conservative” but have run up the biggest deficit in Canadian history when you ran the country - see my first sentence in this paragraph.

I plan on voting for a party that stands on its platform and promotes positive engagement. I’m not going to vote for you if all you do is complain about the other guys. Tell me what you are going to do to fix the problem, how you are going to pay for it, and the timeline until completion. If your party has made those same promises in the past and failed to deliver when they were given power, stop wasting my time with your lies.

If you want my vote, convince me that you are going to govern for the welfare of all your people. I am not going to vote for you if your only focus is going to be on those of us who voted for you. This is not a you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours situation. You have a job to do that is important and a lot of people without a voice are depending upon you to be theirs.

Lastly, if you depend on big business to support your election, you are not fit for office. You are there to represent the little guy. The big guys already have a seat at the table and they have enough privileges and breaks. Stop selling the lie of trickledown economics.

“There are more than three million young eligible voters in this country and as far as any of the political parties are concerned, you might as well all be dead. In fact in some elections, in Quebec for example, the dead have a higher voter turn out.  It is the conventional wisdom of all political parties that young people will not vote. And the parties, they like it that way. It's why your tuition keeps going up.  So please, if you're between the age of 18 and 25 and you want to scare the hell out of the people that run this country, this time around do the unexpected. Take 20 minutes out of your day and do what young people all around the world are dying to do.  - Vote.” - Rick Mercer (b.1969)