This is a non-partisan blog so I won't be giving you 101 reasons for voting one way and calling the others idiots. I'll leave that to the folks that populate Liblogs, Blogging Tories, and Blogging Dippers, etc.
I find most election campaigns frustrating because I enjoy and good policy debate and there usually isn't been much of that. The campaign opened up with Prime Minister Harper accusing the opposition parties of conspiring the form a coalition if Conservatives didn't win a majority which he suggested was undemocratic. This dominated the campaign for two weeks. What pile of crap!
The rules of Parliament are clear. The party with the largest number of seats gets to form a government. If that party does not have the confidence of Parliament then the next largest party in Parliament can be asked to form the government or another election is called. A minority government would be foolish to govern as if they had a majority. Joe Clark tried that in 1979 and he lasted just 9 months. That talk subsided as the Conservative moved into majority territory and began to return as the NDP began to rise in the polls.
The past two minority Conservative governments have been competent and fiscally responsible. Their stewardship of the Canadian economy during the global recession was certainly excellent and that file alone they deserve to be re-elected. But there are many dark clouds that have hung over the Tories. They have have failed to live up their commitment to open up government and increase accountability. The opposite has occurred. There has been too much secrecy and attempts to get around Parliament. There have been disturbing examples of political interference in the public service arm of government and policy direction that makes no sense (eg., the census). They have been over reliant on law and order policies. Too many policies are aimed at their core constituents despite the fact that the majority of Canadians may be opposed. After 5 years in power, many Canadians still don't trust Stephen Harper.
This has been Michael Ignatieff's first election and it shows. He has failed to connect with voters despite spending the entire summer traveling across the country to meet Canadians. The Tories have unfairly characterized him as indifferent to Canadians, power hungry and an opportunist. Their ads labeling Ignatieff: "he didn't come back for you" have been very effective. All the party leaders are dedicated Canadians who care about the country. They work incredibly long hours because they believe in public service. Yes he spent many years in Harvard but in his line of work that is the pinnacle of success.
Ignatieff has been unable to shake loose from past Liberal scandals and policy decisions. When he tried to talk about the Liberal platform, he was forced to go back to talking about leadership, coalitions and his absence from the country. At the start of the election it looked like a two-party race between the Conservatives and Liberals but as Liberal support dissolved the NDP replaced the Liberals as the anti-Tory party.
The NDP surge has been unexpected and very refreshing because it breaks up the political log jam that has existed for quite long time. For 20 years now the Prairies has been Conservative, Ontario has Liberal and the Bloc owned Quebec. BC and the Maritime provinces more or less determined the election. The merger of the two parties on the right in 2003 didn't totally break up the log jam.
This Jack Layton's 4th election and it shows. His party has well thought out policies covering the environment, climate change, crime, immigration, culture, technology and national defense. His commitment to end Canada's involvement in Afghanistan is consistent with where most Canadians are. Layton's ideas for Parliamentary reforms make sense. He wants to get rid of the first-past-the-post structure into something modern which better reflects the true intentions of Canadians through more proportional representation. He also wants to eliminate the Senate which I have to agree with. However, the NDP's fiscal policies are not realistic. None of their policy initiatives are possible without a vibrant Canadian economy.
Some people will choose to vote Green and I can understand that. Other than Saanich-Gulf Islands riding where Elizabeth May is running, no Green party candidate is even close to taking a seat in the House. But I accept that in a democracy it allows you the opportunity to support the party that you most identify with. It also speaks to electoral reforms so that the close to 1 million Canadians that vote Green are not disenfranchised.
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