Federal Election - June 28, 2004Well, it's that time again... time to go out and choose who will make the least mess of our country. But who to pick? In my riding of Kelowna, we have the Liberals, the Conservatives, the NDP, the Canadian Action Party (who?), and the Marijuana Party. Marijuana Party - maybe a candidate for napalm. Probably not good for much else. Canadian Action Party - never heard of these guys. NDP - these guys don't sound too bad. The problem is that I don't think they have any idea where they are going to get the money for half the things they are promising. That leaves the two powerhouses of this election, the Liberals and the Conservatives. From what I've been hearing it is a close race. At the very least we'll have a minority liberal government, but there is a chance we'll have a conservative government. Now, the liberals have been screwing up recently. The sponsership scandal, the gun registry, and various other oopses have cost us taxpayers millions and millions of dollars. That and Paul Martin's link to the tobacco industry leaves me loath to vote for him. On the other hand, we have the Conservatives. They were opposed to the same-sex marriage issue. There are rumours that they are pro-life and would work to out-law abortion or at least make it difficult to access. And if we had a conservative government these last few years, we would probably currently be at war in Iraq. All moral issues that I sided with the Liberals on. I think too many of the conservatives base their views on religion, rather than common sense. All of the screw-ups of the Liberals have been money issues. Most things morality based or issues that impact how the world views us they haven't really screwed up. The Conservatives could very well change the essence of what our country is, not just mess up on the money issues. A vote for the NDP will just take away from the other two, I don't think they have a hope of becoming the opposition. So the question is, which party, the Conservatives or the Liberals do I fear the most to be in power. I think if I thought that the Conservatives didn't have a shot at winning, I would vote NDP. But there is a chance that the Conservatives could actually get in, which leaves me with a sense of dread. Looks like I'm voting Liberal. --- Watched the debate last night. I have come to the conclusion that they are all putzes. One thing I forgot to mention about the Conservatives - it looks like if they get in they might scrap Kyoto. Though I don't see the Liberals doing a heck of a lot to bring about the changes that we require for Kyoto, I don't think that it should be scrapped entirely. --- Hey, the Green party showed up on the list of Kelowna candidates. I wonder if they'll get any seats this year. I think I heard they were talking about income tax cuts if you get a hybrid car. That would be cool. The more I think about voting Liberal, the more my stomach gets queasy. Maybe I'll vote for the Green Party instead. --- Well, the Liberals got in. I guess the main thing to think is that it could have been worse. Hopefully because it is a minority government, they won't try anything too stupid - the other parties wouldn't let them. |