Archive for October 2008

In alphabetical order –

Harper C Party: I’m not ideological enough to be scared by Harper. More or less I find him uninspiring and disappointing. I think the Conservative strength is in their fiscal policy: I for one am looking forward to opening one of their registered savings accounts in January. But money matters are not inspiring matters, and when their cuts about arts created an uproar, the question shifted to not whether they were justified or not, but to the perception that the Conservatives don’t care about culture. Mr. Harper positively beamed when talking about the talents of his kids. He’s a proud father. It is striking that the question was even asked – when was the last time arts-n-culture were part of an electoral campaign?

I’ve admitted in the past that I respect Mr. Harper. I like the no-nonsense attitude, yes. But I’ll never vote conservative for as long as I live, and that has everything to do with their hard-hardheartedness. Maybe I respect Harper because he comes across as the only intelligent one of the bunch. He’s not a windbag like Jason Kenney, nor as much of an unprofessional jerk like Jim ‘don’t invest in Ontario’ Flaherty – a stinky old fish from the Harris regime (which John Ralston Saul described as ‘intentionally evil’ in his new book, writing about their attacks on the school system). At my riding’s All Candidates Meeting, Gerrard Kennedy tried to scare-monger by describing Harper as Harris. Puhlease. Harris was a typical stupid bully, whereas Harper is just the self-righteous smart kid who gets great grades and makes everyone feel bad. There’s a big difference. It is notable that they gravitated to the same political spectrum however.

Underlying conservative arguments is a not only past-oriented romanticism, but also an ignorance which feeds bigotry. They are ultimately the party of stupid patriarchs, and we’ve had quite enough of that.

The Conservatives display financial expertise. But it seems to be the only thing they can speak about with authority. Since life is about more than money, I’d appreciate more well-rounded fuck-saying people in my government.

Day – G-Party: Ms. Day was fantastic, bringing up obscure facts to educate the public on. I’m increasingly thinking I may vote Green. That’s all I need to say I think. I hope she impressed many people to do the same.

Dion L-Party: Mr. Dion spoke with authority, but what an uphill battle. He cowered for the past 18 months since becoming leader, and when the election was called brought up the fact that Harper was violating his own fixed-election date law. WTF? I mean seriously, what … the … fuck !??? You mean to tell me the reason we haven’t had his election sooner was because Dion seriously respected that silly law, which is obviously of no consequence? Does he really want to be PM? You mean, he would have contently waited out his role as leader of the Opp with the calendar marked with Harper’s fixed-election date? God I wish they’d made Ignatieff leader when they had the chance.

Besides that, Green Shift … whatever. I don’t care what it’s called or what it costs, I want to be able to breath outside when I’m 90. All parties seem to agree on this except for the stupid Conservatives.

Layton – N Party: Layton did a good job of agreeing with Day. That wasn’t a bad thing, since it reflected sensibility. Jack Layton isn’t someone I have any big problems with, and he’d make an excellent Prime Minister. The NDP tend to seem shifty because they come across as impractical (vs. the Conservative practicality). He made a good point in suggesting that if citizens want a better government, they should try electing one which doesn’t start with an L or a C (not his words, my interpretation). I would like to see the NDP appear more well-rounded and stop catering to relatively minor issues like fucking bank fees. I mean, banks suck of course, but I don’t need the leader of the minority opposition treating it like a mission more important than child care and health care and all the rest. The NDP have done a great job in keeping the Conservative budgets from being overly-crazy, and I commend them on that.

Duceppe – Q Party: Duceppe was irrelevant to English Canada.