Thursday, October 01, 2015

Consider wisely candidates records before casting vote

After a slow start where Stephen Harper's Tories led the national polls, closely trailed behind by Thomas Mulcair's NDP, with Justin Trudeau's Liberal even further back, all three for the past month have been statistically tied to create the closest race federally in a decade. Locally, the polls of popular opinion across Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound from downtown Owen Sound to the farmer's market at Keady seem to suggest Conservative Larry Miller will win by a massively wide margin over his opponents being the NDP's David McLaren, Liberal Kimberley Love, and Chris Albinati of the Greens mid October. But one particular quote from a longtime Miller Conservative foe in the paper at the start of the campaign left us disappointed. Love, calling it a time for a change, opined "You know Larry's had his turn", alluding to a return to Canada's natural governing party, being her party, as the next government.

Like it or leave it, the fast is the Harper Tories have governed this great dominion for nearly a decade, as has Miller represented it locally in the riding. Whether by a disunified left or a right now reunited, it has been working hard on its agenda of incremental conservatism in Ottawa, and it shows. As the late great Agnes Macphail once famously said "Never apologize, never explain, just get the thing done and let them howl."

It was exactly Macphail's democratic reform spirit of equality, liberty, and choice that now seems diametrically opposed to the Team Trudeau candidate of record's aforementioned how it is simply their turn to become the government by default without merit, a microcosmic copy of the macrocosmic blueprint being the party leader's campaign nationally itself. As we move close towards a time when we honour those who have fallen meritoriously for the greater good of sacrifice so we could live in a democracy and have a choice this federal election, which has slowly become more of a culture war, reminds us to protect and preserve our democracy by taking more seriously that choice and never voting and thus electing a candidate, their leaders, and party just by default. Carefully look over their voting records, campaign platforms, and especially their actions over their words before you vote, For by those measurements do you add up the character of your candidate who will represent you and your community we share and care alike.