The Canadian Youth

Hi there here's a message to the youth of Canada. 

Not all young people but those who seem confused and or disillusioned with the system or the candidates who are running in this next election. For this post I am going to leave out, as much as possible, the politics of our southern neighbor. 

 You might wonder a number of things the first one: Is going to vote even worth the time?

 You will hear many older people say that your vote doesn't mean much because if you live anywhere but Ontario and Quebec it won't change the outcome!

 True Ontario and Quebec have the majority of seats in the house of commons so when there is a majority of which ever party it is a sealed deal for the rest of Canada right?

 Well although Ontario has a total of 122 seats you would still need 173 seats to have a majority. So Yes the voting in all of the other territories and provinces counts sometimes more sometimes less but count it does. I hope I have those numbers right. Could the election system be better? I have covered that in another post and I found that some simple changes to the current system would probably go along way in changing the way we feel about casting a vote but let's get back to the election in front of us.

I have heard adults comment on the many minority governments we have had in this country and how that makes voting pointless. Again I'm not sure how that makes any real sense but let's look into the records and what do I find?

We are in the 43rd parliament and out of 43 15 have been minority governments including this one. That doesn't seem like a problem until you look closer and realize that the number of seats in parliament has increased as have the number of parties. Taking all of that into account one would expect the number of minority governments to increase and looking at the data you see the first minority government was in 1921 which was the first time there was not only a third party but a fourth. So that gives us 29 elections and 15 have been minority but it this a bad thing?

That full conversation is for another time but in short having more than two parties keeps power in check and that brings the possibility that policies of the party in power can be blocked. Sometimes that is a good thing and sometimes it's not, again a debate for another day.

The next hurdle is  figuring out what these talking heads are on about, who are they and what are they planning or do they have a plan? 

Let's take a look at the four main parties. When you go from one website to another you will see the difference in the way the four players lay things out. So take sometime and click on the links read a bit about the parties and see if there are differences.

The Green Party:

As the name suggests this is a party that has a leaning towards environmental concerns. It has a co-leadership thing happening with a young man named Jonathan Pedneault a person who has been on the ground in several conflicts abroad.

 Then there is Elizabeth May who might be the brightest and most articulate member of parliament. Unfortunately the Green's don't have candidates in every riding but they, like all parties,  have some good policy, some mediocre and some bad. I just read excerpts from an interview done by CBC Francais of Mr. Pedneault and he wanted to keep a focus on the environment while the world economic systems are being abraded by the USA. Hey it was cherry picked by some Anglo so I'm sure he had other things to say but this is what plagues the party letting the media paint them as some hyper-environmentalists and the party "machine" needs to be a little more savvy in order to get more seats. If you are a humanist that likes some serious plans that are easy to read and don't look like clikbait this is the party for you.  This party will probably never lead the country but hopefully it becomes a stronger voice in the next election. It would be great if the Greens got a few more seats. 

The New Democratic Party:  

The leader is Jadmeet Singh and the party really is focused on workers rights and the environment. It is here that I will bring in the media outlets of this great country. You rarely hear much about the Green's or the NDP unless there is a minority government who needs their support.

 The NDP does support workers rights you truly have to remember the rights and social benefits we all enjoy today come from the NDP. This is the point that the next party will bring up time after time that we spend too much on government programs. The fiscally responsible CPC.  This is the divide between a people party and a party that leans to almost well a lot like Donald Trump. More on that as you go to the next party the CPC.  

The Conservative Party of Canada:

 I first saw the name Poilievre  on a bumper sticker back in 2016, I think it was might have been later, what I found laughable was the borrowed slogan of "let's make Canada great again". I thought this guy wants to lead Canada using phrases borrowed from a US president WTF!

So looking at the website this party has makes me think of a streaming service offering different shows like the crime busting channel etc. Perhaps what I see is someone who has taken the CPC back from near death and this makes a person nervous. You want to get and keep momentum so you try proven tactics like borrowing from the Trump playbook. This seems sad and lacks originality but it worked well with some of the population who liked Trump because he seems to be a strong leader. Like I said I don't want to drag President Trump into this but we do have to recognize that it does play into this particular election. So a Canadian party leaders alignment with someone that has suggested that Canada be annexed as a 51st state may not be the best pick but I was just as appalled with the Trudeau family being friends with arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi but at least Adnan wasn't a threat to Canadian sovereignty. Of course only you can decide.

 This brings us to a point where some of you reading this go "Hey Grandpa what about the Parti Québécois"?

 I put the PQ with the few independents because they don't run for election outside of Québec or in the case of independents outside their riding. I don't see the point of reviewing them but if you are interested  P.Q. party. To be fair there are many registered parties that can be on the ballot so here's a list

Now we come to the party in power the one everybody loves to hate.

The Liberal Party :

So we know that Justin was the PM for the last decade or so which means the Liberal party has held the highest office in the land. He has had a ton of shit come down on him over the course of ten years from scandals like judicial interference involving SNC Lavalin to dubious donations etc.

The worst thing about these ten years of Liberal rule is that they walked away from voting reform but made pot legal, both of them somewhat bungled by the Liberals along with the gun control issue and the way Chrystia Freeland was treated in the months leading up to the Liberal leadership race was as disrespectful as it was predictable. I'm sure a longer list could be made but short story Trudeau lost confidence of the public including his core supporters.  You have to remember that Justin, as with most PM's, ruled the party and his vision was what had to be.  Let's look at the situation today with Mark Carney as the leader of the party and the new Prime Minister of Canada. He is the guy who called a snap election and he's the guy that the house wants to disclose all of his holdings to parliament but he has given the proper documents and followed the proper procedures to place all of his holdings into a blind trust.

 He is also the man who was the governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crises getting Canada through that crisis relatively unscathed compared to other countries. So he has some streetcred and he has been face to face with leaders on the world stage for most of his career. If times were normal I would say Prime Minister Carney's background doesn't matter too much in fact for me personally it would likely be a negative but these are not the times of yesterday we are all forced to a new frontier and we need someone to lead this trek not by name calling and slogan making but by being a leader with a bit of wisdom.

As I mentioned a huge number of Canadians disapproved of Justin Trudeau and so many want that most elusive thing in politics and that's change. Having Trudeau step down and replaced was a profound change but I have had people say they can't live with the thought of having a Liberal government for another four years! 

 Some say they would rather be part of the USA if a Liberal government was voted in and I see the frustration in not having the leader of "your" party lead the country.  

 Historically speaking the Liberals have won 25 of 43 elections 17 for the Conservatives and 1 for the unionist party which isn't even close to even but as someone who doesn't really support the Liberal or the Conservative cause I see any political party to be a reflection of the leader of that party. So it is a change to go from Trudeau to Carney but should I vote Conservative for real change?

 From what I see the change promoted by the CPC really is a populist play. Crime is bad 3 strikes and you are out of society forever. This is not a new idea as it has been law in many US states to mixed reviews and from Carney I expect to see the banker/economist come out.  My point here is that no matter the choice made between the two big parties you still end up with a large portion of the same and so any substantial change would come from voting for one of the other parties but this is a free democracy so you do you. I see the value in this system as flawed as it is and whether your party wins or loses it's still better than what we have had before!  So go vote be a part of this system we call democracy.