As a progressive, left leaning, Canadian citizen, I found it difficult to decide who to vote for in the October 14th federal election. My values were best represented by the Liberal, NDP, and Green Party alike. The majority of Canadians who voted were in a similar position, often voting strategically to prevent Conservatives from gaining a majority, which they did—but the votes were still too diluted between the three parties to win an ABC (anything but conservative) government.
If you add up votes from those three progressive parties, it equals 7,086,359 compared to 5,208,796 for conservatives.
Now I don’t claim to be an expert in politics, but the topic most important to me, climate change, is all but being ignored by the conservatives. In fact, Canada was rated 15th out of the 17 developed countries examined, with only Australia and the US rating worse. Indeed, immediate climate change action is necessary to prevent major hardships for Canadians down the road—this takes a vision for the future, beyond the short term politically selfish plans currently in effect. A coalition government is only way to give Canadians what they need, and the future our children deserve.
I value Elizabeth May’s opinion highly, I think she outshined everyone at the last federal election debate. She is in favor of the coalition. If you are in the same boat as I, as I know most of you are judging on the election results from October 14th, you’ll have to read between the lines and do some digging because the conservatives will be using some big money to convince the general public that the coalition is bad news. You’re going to have to put on a serious filter over the coming week. Sure the coalition is an imperfect solution, but the temporary chaos it will and has caused, seems to be the best option we have right now. Based on the actual issues, it will be the best democratic reflection of how Canadians voted.
Political talk is a very inaccurate science with more truth bending, and outright lying than in any other facet of life. The above is my simple translation of the current situation based on my values. I understand and acknowledge that others may have an alternative viewpoint, and I honor that.
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I agree. If Harper doesn’t want to work in a minority situation, he can work as leader of the opposition. He did a fairly good job there in the past, and I for one am much more comfortable with him there.
When the Coalition was made known to Canada with their intent to topple the government, my thoughts were that we were in a Coup d’etat. I did not see people wanting to govern Canada because of an issue, I saw a group that wanted power no matter how it came about. I’m sure that if the last election were a two-party vote, that the results would have been different (but how different I cannot say).
And since nobody has mentioned this aspect of climate change before, I’m going to throw my two-cents out there. Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend a moderate amount of money in reducing airborn polution in places like India and China where we can make a big difference rather than spend a lot of money in Canada for very little change? It’s the worlds air, and airborn polution – whereever it’s created – is everybody’s concern.
And until somebody can explaint to me how the world exited the last Ice Age without industrialized man causing green house gases, I cannot believe that man is 100% to blame for global warming. Somebody please show me that this is something other than a normal planetary cycle.
Hi Jimmie,
Our politics are a mess, it’s quite embarrassing. During a time where strong leadership is needed more than anything, Canada is flailing. We’re turning in to the new US—a selfish leader motivated by power (I think Harper was the one attempting a coup d’etat), extreme inaction on climate change, and an inability to sympathize with the average working class citizen during this economic crisis.
Yes, your theory about reducing emissions in say China, where they have now overtaken the US for co2 emissions (not per capita though), is resonable conclusion. It does leave out the fact that we are living in a virtual la la land of excess though that simply cannot be sustained environemtanlly, nor economically. If we expect China to make any changes toward green infrastructure, we HAVE to set an example. As you said, it’s everybody’s concern. We have to act, we have to lead, we have to set an example. They are meeting in Poznan right now about these exact issues.
Regarding your thought on climate change, well, the science is conclusive, there is no doubt that humans account for rapid climate. As Barack Obama said “The science is beyond dispute…Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”
The earth exited it’s last ice age because of a variation in the earths orbit, that’s what ice ages are all about, it has very little to do with co2 levels.
I agree that our politics are a mess – but from a different point of view. I still haven’t forgiven the Liberals for their sponsorship scandal. I remember that in Harper’s first couple of years – without significant changes – was able to put considerable funds towards Canadian deficit and military whereas the Liberals were not able to do so (possibly pocketting the monies). Let me just say that for the previous items, I have confidence in the Conservatives, and very little confidence in the Liberals or NDP.
Could Canada do more for climate change? Possibly. I see Banff AB bringing in Fuel Cell busses to lead the way. I see Alberta pioneering the way in CO2 injection to (1) capture and store CO2 underground and (2) make existing oil wells more productive. I see Alberta Windfarms powering much of Calgary – including the CTrain. I see how Canmore AB was considering an outright ban on plastic bags, and that Calgary was going to follow suit. I see a lot of good things going on – but we’re not promoting it much. Have we set an example – sort of…
I’ve seen different reasons for global warming. All planets in our solar system are warming up. So how are our greenhouse gasses getting to these other planets? I’ve also seen that our CO2 levels have increased – but by such a small percentage that it’s hard to belive that this is the one and only cause of what’s going on.
I have seen, and still do see, the Global Warming issue as being a great banner that everybody can rally behind to polute less. I agree that we are a wasteful society – it’s easier to buy a new printer than repair it.
“The science is beyond dispute…” … I have a hard time with any absolute as monumental as this. I recall that Al Gore was pulling funding from researchers who tried to publish papers on Global Warming that differed from his own views. How can this be allowed?!?? I also recall that Al Gore when running for office, wanted publicity pictures of him canoeing down a river. To get the picture, he had the damn open up to raise the level – which in turn flooded out hundreds of homes… Some environmentalist…
What would we do if we all swithced to electic vehicles, thereby stopping almost all CO2 emmisions, and global warming still continued for years to come… What if we’re wrong that CO2 is the sole culprit because we didn’t look any further…