Spring has finally come to Inuvik and it is about time. This past long weekend was nice and I finally got to wash the Pilot. I also got to plant our vegetable garden at the Inuvik Community Greenhouse where we decided to rent a plot this year. We helped Kimmi look after the plot for the high school last year and we really wanted to grow our own fresh vegetables this year. Anyway, in the middle of this nice weekend, Prime Minister Paul Martin decided to call a federal election for June 28th.
So we in Canada have to chose a new Prime Minister. Unlike the US who know they are going to have their elections in November every 4 years, the Canadian Prime Minister can call an election anytime within their 5 year appointment. This is usually done when the current Prime Minister is leading in the polls and has little chance of losing. The proof of this is the fact that the liberals have won the elections and held power 61 out of the last 83 years. Only 4 times in the last 108 years have non-Liberals held office for more than 4 years. So is there any point in voting?
There is one main reason to vote. If you don't vote then you can't complain when the government does something you don't like. Voting gives you that right. If you don't vote you are telling whoever wins that whatever they do is fine with you.
Does anyone really think that the Liberals are going to lose? The biggest problem with Canadian politics in the last 20 years is that it has been tough to chose which idiot leader you want as Prime Minister. Canada hasn't had a real leader since Pierre Trudeau. Now don't get me wrong, there were several things that PET did as Prime Minister that sucked, especially if you were a westerner. But the fact is that everyone respected him. There were never any rumors of kickbacks, payoffs or other improprieties. Since his departure in 1984, every government has had its scandals. The current government has been going through adscam, and before the current Liberal government, the Conservatives lead by Brian Mulroney had their own similar scandal. The problem is that the people of Quebec and Ontario are to chicken to give the power to another party as most Liberal leaders are from that area of Canada. The Liberals have never had a party leader born west of Ontario. None of them have ever lived in the west. They have no idea what problems happen in the west. At least with the Conservative party there have been leaders from the west and from Atlantic Canada. People who know what happens in other parts of Canada.
Current Conservative Party of Canada leader Stephen Harper, while being born in Ontario, has spent a great deal of his adult life in Alberta and knows what it is like to live in the west. Now this is not an endorsement of the Conservative Party as you have to decide who is best suited to represent your riding, but it is more a question of whether we have let the liberal party screw us too much over the last 11 years. The current Liberal party has blown billions of dollars with the current adscam fiasco, the continuing joke called the federal gun registry, the failure of promises to end the GST and many other numerous incidents. But those are things that you have to weigh when you make your decision.
Whether you chose to vote for the Liberals, Conservative, NDP, Rhinos, Bloc it is important to make sure you vote. June 28th...get to the polls and VOTE!!! Many men and women have died for you to have that right. Make sure you are part of the democratic freedom we enjoy. VOTE!!!
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