Who are you going to vote for?

[miss.myra]

Originally Posted by Avana

I am actually surprised to see people on this forum who are right wing enough to vote for Harper. He has some very close minded views and we are an open minded bunch for the most part. I just see him setting us back 10 years as a country.

I see him making every possible effort to make Canada like the United States, up to and including millitary presence in Iraq, which will do nothing but further compromise our national security.

oh, and I forgot the conservative idea to decrease GST by 5% over 5 years is not financially viable for our nation, even conservative economists strongly oppose the idea.

[Alex]

which is why i don't want to vote for him.

Just can't decide which is worse, close minded social views, or economic disaster and high taxes.

[sidekick]

Originally Posted by miss.myra

oh, and I forgot the conservative idea to decrease GST by 5% over 5 years is not financially viable for our nation, even conservative economists strongly oppose the idea.

i've heard that it could work, but why the hell would you want to decrease the GST anyway? it's not like it saves you THAT much money unless you are constantly making huge purchases.

you would save one dollar on a 100$ purchase. i could save more from cutting out coupons.

[mapleleaf4ever]

Cut coupons and minus that 5% and you'd save even more! ;)

[Cdn_Brdr]

Originally Posted by miss.myra

I see him making every possible effort to make Canada like the United States, up to and including millitary presence in Iraq, which will do nothing but further compromise our national security.

There was a report made by some US political analyst the other day that put Stephen Harper as the most 'Pro American' leader the western world has seen in decades. He also stated that in his eyes Harper could quickly fall into position as right hand man to Bush.

I don't know about anyone else but that scares the shit out of me.

[sidekick]

Originally Posted by mapleleaf4ever

Cut coupons and minus that 5% and you'd save even more! ;)

it's not minus 5%, but minus 1% immediatly making the GST 6% and then Harper said he would decrease it another 1% over his term in government.

i would rather see savings on income tax.

[miss.myra]

Originally Posted by mapleleaf4ever

The majority of my views are Right of Centre... I am socially Centrist however. So I go with the Conservative Party. As a worker and a staunch lover of capitalism. Need I say more?

You could start off by explaining why the hell you had a liberal party signature and were gung ho about supporting them what? two months ago?

Make up your fucking mind!

[sidekick]

^i listed myself as unsure as of the moment as well (although i know i'm not voting conservatine). people's minds change all the time especially around this time in the campaign.

[b0ld]

Well I will be voting liberal.... Why??? Well... currently the countries economy is doing absolutely amazing compared to when chretien was prime minister. In a personal sense I don't like Paul Martin... however his decisions has been just with all mp's of the liberal party.... Although he does have personal beliefs, he doesn't bring those beliefs and hammer the country down with what HE thinks is right... He go's by whats right for the people of the country.. Perfect example is same sex marriage (I'm not into that thing) but look as to where he brought it.... Right now Harper all of a sudden decides to change views on same sex marriages and he is now saying that he would consider it.... So in a years time he has decided to change his decission??? I mean come on... the hidden agenda is still there... Then his press confrence in vancouver he said that he would make sure that marijuana would be criminalized.... Remember when canada has a conservative/torie government.... remember who was in office... thats right none other then the sell-out brian mulroney.... if it wasn't for mulroney bc wouldn't be having this softwood lumber bullshit thats happening as well as many other things that has occured. As for NDP..... only difference between them and the liberals is that they are more "green" then anything.... You think by canada cutting emissions will help us..... Hello guess who is south of us.... right the united states.... bush doesn't give a shit about global warming or greenhouse effects... the border is just a line the air just doesn't stop... and considering that all major canadian cities are at least 2 hours away from the american border cutting emissions on our side will do dick. The liberals know of this... and there's so much they can do.... they can only speak words and tell our lovely neighbor to help out and cut down... why waste more money....... In all the conservatives and the ndp joined with the seperatists who want to devide this country to bring this election... so as far as I am concerned the ndp and conservative leaders are working on personal agenda's to put forward to this country and not what is right for canadians.

[fable]

There was a report made by some US political analyst the other day that put Stephen Harper as the most 'Pro American' leader the western world has seen in decades. He also stated that in his eyes Harper could quickly fall into position as right hand man to Bush.

I don't know about anyone else but that scares the shit out of me.

thats some damn tasty irony!

[Senior]

b0ld - Simply your attitude on green house gas emisions is bullshit. It's a complete cop out. Yes I am part of the problem (I use electricity, I drive a truck for work and so on) and so are you but that doesn't mean we should just write off the whole issue. It is the responsibilty of our generation, being the first that is really aware of the problem, to start making changes that will reverse the damage that has been caussed. George Bush and many Americans it would seem don't care abou the issue and would rather pretend it doesn't exist or has nothing to do with our action. This doesn't mean that Canada couldn't make efforts to be a World leader in trying to reduce green house gas emisions. Also for anyone that's paying attenion to the World you'll be aware of the looming energy crises as easily available fossil fuels are running out. Shouldn't Canada, not only for the sake of the environment but also for our own self interest, be looking to develop alternative fuel sources? Please don't mention the Ballard fuel cell, yes it works but hydrogen isn't a fuel source and solves nothing.

As for the election...

Liberals - I'm pretty sick of the way they keep running a huge surplus every year when that money could be better invested into the country in other ways. I'm pissed off that ei has a surplus of how many millions? When I needed to claim some of that money, after having paid into the fund for over 10 years, it was nearly impossible even though I was completely entitiled to it. They have a horrible environmental record and really do little more than pay a bit of lip service saying they want to change their ways every four years or so.

Conservatives - Can they please stop calling themselves the Conservatives? They're not conservative!!! They want to make very scary, radical changes to Canada. They want to make us a clone of the United States, end of storey.

NDP - I agree with a lot of the policies and am very happy to see a gap growing between them and Labor Unions. While I am pro union I see it as a natural conflict to tie a political party to something like that. Beyond that I think Jack Leighton is a great leader, he is well spoken, has lots of personality, and knows how to play hard ball. Hands down he is the biggest reason I see the NDP making a surge in this election. Also I think a deciding factor in this election will be the fact that the NDP will be the only party able to mobilize a significant volunteer pool to run their campaigns.

Issues that I care about:

Green house gasses, see above.

Marijuana and drug legalization: I think that the root of most all crime and social problems in Canada are very connected to drug prohibition. In short drugs have been used recreationaly by every culture that we have ever known of, with the exception of the Inuit. It is of human nature to to take mind altering drugs and that is why people do it. The war on drugs has failed out right by any measure. As it stands we are just wasting copious amounts of money on enforcement, imprisonment and the judicial system trying to stop something that cannot be stopped.

[ebbomega]

I'm not voting for any of those people because none of those people are running in my riding.

Vote for representatives, not leaders.

[galaxie]

Originally Posted by Sidekick

well, i put unsure. i normally go with the NDP because i like their policies the best out of all the parties. i also like jack layton, i think he's a good guy. i know there is no chance of them forming any sort of government, but the more seats they have the bigger the chance they will have more influence in the house of commons like they had with this last minority government. whatever, some people said it was dirty politics how Layton made those deals with the Liberal government so the Liberals could stay in power...but um, helllooooo, that's what opposition parties are supposed to do; that's why it's a minority government.

hooooowever, i severely hate stephen harper and dislike most of the crap that has been coming out of their election campaign so far (re-opening same-sex marriage, cutting the gst, giving parents 1,200 a year for kids under six even though we JUUUUST decided on a national daycare plan) so this makes me want to vote for Liberals to lengthen their lead on the Conservatives.

I wholeheartedly agree.

I feel like I'm cheating on my party, but in this election I am voting Liberal.
My entire family supports the NDP, and after much debate and discussion we have come to an agreement that THIS TIME it would be a waste of our votes because as much as we want to support the NDP we are afraid that the Conservatives will be elected.

I'm proud of everyone here who realizes this point and is willing to compromise for the sake of the country. I think that's really awesome.

And Erik, I'm very surprised. Seems to me that you haven't even considered the negative long-term effects of a Harper gov't.

[galaxie]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

Vote for representatives, not leaders.

Ideally.
However, I think it's foolish to not look at the big picture as well.

Originally Posted by Senior

Hands down he is the biggest reason I see the NDP making a surge in this election.

I wish. Oh how much I wish. I don't think it's plausible, though.

There's no way that the NDP will win this election. Sure, they could probably win quite a few seats, but those would be Liberal seats and not Tory seats, which is the opposite of what we as NDP supporters should want. I don't WANT a Conservative gov't, so if I have to compromise and deal with a gov't that's not MY party, I want it to be a gov't that has views as close to those of my party as possible.

[mikey]

Don't let the conservatives get in...

I'm voting liberal. And I never vote.

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by galaxie

I feel like I'm cheating on my party, but in this election I am voting Liberal.

Why feel that way? That's as daft as the people who voted for dubya because "We're republicans".

Fuck if you're conservative or liberal or ndp or whatever.

VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO WILL REPRESENT YOU IN PARLIAMENT.

It's the only way it works. I don't know if you noticed or not, but the PM is not decided by popular vote. If you're voting for a PM you're only contributing to the popular vote.

I agree that the electoral college needs to be scrapped in the states, because everybody is voting for ONE president. Such is not the system in Canada, and frankly I think our system is better than the states (for one, we still have a paper trail in case someone cheats). If you don't like it, there's a war-mongering political system for you just south of the 49th. Go there instead.

Every time I vote for the person in my riding I've been happy with the results, regardless of the way the canadian political schema works out in the end.

I'm only miffed that I'm two streets away from being allowed to vote for Svend Robinson.

[galaxie]

^ Honestly, my vote doesn't even matter.
I live in Richmond. Last election the votes weren't even CLOSE Liberal vs. NDP. I am voting Liberal this election because they will represent me BETTER than the Conservatives.

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by galaxie

^ Honestly, my vote doesn't even matter.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

Your vote doesn't matter? Fuck this whole "democracy" thing.

Whenever you get all caught up in the federal issues, you completely take the power away from the populous (which is what democracy is all about) and put it ALL in the party leaders.

That is not why we vote. It is to maintain our own power, not give it to others.

If you think your vote doesn't matter then you're voting for the wrong reasons. If you think you can have no effect on the outcome of the federal election then stop treating it like you're voting for a president.

I'll vote for the leaders when they put the leaders' names on the ballots. Until that day comes, I won't say I'm voting for one person but really be thinking about someone else. That's just dirty.

[Senior]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

Your vote doesn't matter? Fuck this whole "democracy" thing.

Whenever you get all caught up in the federal issues, you completely take the power away from the populous (which is what democracy is all about) and put it ALL in the party leaders.

That is not why we vote. It is to maintain our own power, not give it to others.

If you think your vote doesn't matter then you're voting for the wrong reasons. If you think you can have no effect on the outcome of the federal election then stop treating it like you're voting for a president.

I'll vote for the leaders when they put the leaders' names on the ballots. Until that day comes, I won't say I'm voting for one person but really be thinking about someone else. That's just dirty.

I'm pretty sure people realize that we elect MP's and do not have an at large vote for the PM.

[SEAN!]

Originally Posted by miss.myra

I see him making every possible effort to make Canada like the United States, up to and including millitary presence in Iraq, which will do nothing but further compromise our national security.

oh, and I forgot the conservative idea to decrease GST by 5% over 5 years is not financially viable for our nation, even conservative economists strongly oppose the idea.

its 2% over 5 years, it is fiscially sustainable but its not a very good idea. it would be far better to eliminate/significantly reduce corporate income taxes as the tax lost is about the same but the benefits in investment and job creation will be far higher. Plus all those baby boomer pensioners would be paying alot more income taxes on the increased corporate dividends they recieve on their stocks.

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by Senior

I'm pretty sure people realize that we elect MP's and do not have an at large vote for the PM.

But still people vote based on party rather than platform.

I offer this: Go to your all candidate's debates in your area. You learn pretty quickly there who is a party peon and who is someone that will actually be able to fight for what you want. I say vote for the latter.

Since it is getting closer to the election, and the campaigns and candidates seem to be more and more in our faces EVERY DAY, I thought this thread needed a bump.

Jake, make your decision yet?

I have changed mine since I voted on this poll.

[islandgirl]

I am still totally confused on who to vote for:014: .....I need to make my mind up quick!

It is good though that you intend to vote. I am surprised that people said, no I am not going to vote. I am willing to bet they are the same people that bitch about who is in charge and what is going wrong with their country.

[Anjew]

Have you seen the Conservative "attack ads"
funniest thing ever...
holy snit....