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.

I streamed the Canadian Federal Debate last night on my computer (who needs cable anymore?!), Elizabeth May had a very strong showing, and was my pick as the winner of the debate. I’m happy that she was included on the main stage to finally give The Green Party the representation they need.

May’s answers and responses seem to best reflect my worldviews; the unfortunate thing is that due to the strange election laws in Canada, many citizens will vote against their intentions as a purely defensive technique to be sure the ‘other’ party doesn’t gain a majority. Very complicated – I’m still trying to figure it out…and am also still undecided who I will vote for due to this very reason. May proclaimed,  in response to the question of what the first things she will do if elected Prime Minister, that she will change the election laws to address this problem. Nice! She noted that since she’s a female, she’ll be able to act on many important issues simultaneously. 

Steve Paikin, the moderator of the debate, closed by saying “this debate was way better than the Biden/Palin debate”. This remark struck me as strange, especially as part of his closing statement – made it seem like an  entertainment choice. Elizabeth May actually spoke over top of him quickly exclaiming (from my memory) “of course it was better, it’s our democracy”.

If you’re more of a youtube’r, check out The Green Party’s YouTube ads…all filmed during May’s whistle stop tour through Canada.

Ad #3: Economy

Ad #5: Nature

Ad #4: Deomocracy

RL