Wondering if any events that have transpired in the last few months will affect the way you vote. Will the adscam controversy make you vote some way other than Liberal if you’ve traditionally voted liberal? Does Harper’s election as CPC leader make you want to vote other than “Conservative” if you’ve traditionally voted on PC lines?
While I have voted before, I never thought about it much - I voted Liberal last time because it seemed to be an OK choice and there really weren’t alternatives I felt good about.
Now, though, I don’t know. I’m not too happy with the Liberals, but I don’t think any of the other parties are any better, and in some cases, certainly worse choices. So do I stick with Martin, the “devil we know”, according to Joe Clark? Or look into something else?
Admitedly, I haven’t done much research, though. The Conservatives are not an option for me - Stephen Harper creeps me out. The Bloc isn’t in this province, but even back in Quebec I wouldn’t have voted for them because of the whole sovereignty thing. I have a feeling, though, that if I looked into it, I might line up with them on a lot of issues! As for the NDP…I just don’t know. I don’t see them as the government, though they might be decent as the official opposition - someone on this board called them the “conscience” of Canada, and I think I agree with that. I guess I’m a little scared of the whole “massive spenders higher taxers” thing being said about them. And the other parties? Jokes, really.
I think I will certainly be looking into the Liberals and the NDP more, though, before the actual election rolls around. Thing is, we all know it’s going to be another Liberal win, though likely a minority government (unless a lot of “switchers” in current polls just don’t follow through on election day). So I have a bit of the " my vote won’t make a difference" apathy, but I feel I need to exercise my right to vote, too.
I dunno. At least I’m trying! I know a lot of people who just don’t care to vote this time around.
I’m not thrilled at all about the choices this time around.
As for PM, given the choice between Martin, Harper, and Layton, if it were up to me it’d be a cinch for Layton – but only because I assume he has to be less corrupt/self-serving than Paul Martin and less (duh) of a a conservative ideologue than Stephen Harper. I don’t like Harper’s history on Medicare and his resume in general stinks to high heaven. Martin, on the other hand, has a long and storied history of wielding his political power for his own explicitly personal benefit at the expense of Canadians in general, which isn’t exactly a quality you want in a Prime Minister. I’m not real enthusiastic about Layton, but at the very least he’s less whiffy at a distance. Of course, all this is purely academic as the NDP doesn’t really have a chance at the federal level.
What then? Pick the contender that repulses you the least and support him to try to keep the King Bastard off the throne? I think that would mean voting Liberal, for me. Totally out of the question.
I think I’ll end up looking no higher than my own riding to make the decision.
I wish to god I was still in Vancouver East – voting for Libby Davies was always easy to feel good about.
As it stands, in the riding I’m in now, the choice is not quite so clear. The NDP candidate is Ian Waddell, who I only remember as Glen Clarke’s Culture Minister. I hope that the stigma of being in Glen Clark’s cabinet won’t stick to him too much. Let’s see, it’s either him or the Green (snarf) candidate. A twenty-two year old student. She’s kind of cute… but I guess I’ll vote for Waddell.
Damn it, this is a hard one to get jazzed up about.
Conservative.
(I think they throw you out of Alberta if you vote for anyone else)
In all seriousness - I could not vote Liberal. There has been just too much scandal, patronage and wastefulness going in the last few years.
I’m not naive enough to assume that any other party would be any different after years of majority governments - but at least it would take a little while to work up to it.
I’m not even sure the NDP has a candidate announced yet (and Elections Canada doesn’t finalize the list until June 9) and the Green party candidate is all of 20 years old. (wonder who ponied up the dough so she could run…)
Anyhow…Conservative it is. Aiding this is that the candidate in my riding has been the MP since 1997 and hasn’t done too many stupid things - though a list of his memberships suggests he hold views rather to the right of mine.
Of course - it’s not that it really matters after all. Isn’t the election decided by the time the polls close in Ontario?
Heh. I think we’re in the same riding. You have to admire a political bio that features clogging prominantly. I’ll probably end up voting Conservative, but a good independant candidate could attract me.
This time, likely not. I can’t see the Conservatives making a big breakthrough in the Atlantic, and the Atlantic provinces don’t have many seats, anyway. I’d expect the Grits to take a majority of the Atlantic seats, but not by much.
Then Quebec: looks like the Bloc will trounce the Grits, who might come out with just 20-25 seats, well short of the trends they need for a majority government.
Then Ontario. The Liberals have done so well in Ontario the last few elections because of vote-splitting between the two conservative parties, but there were several ridings that were squeakers. If the Conservatives and NDP start picking up seats in Ontario, then by the time polls close in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, we may well be hearing that the Grits are short of a majority and need to pick up seats in the West to get over the top, or even just to stay on as a minority goverment (if the Conservatives have done really well in Ontario).
Then Alberta, which will likely return Conservatives in almost all the seats (landslide Annie may be in trouble in her seat, even though she is the Deputy Prime Minister).
And then on to B.C., which is really hard to call.
So, we may be watching until late at night before we know the outcome.
(But at least it won’t be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada a month later! :eek: )
I’m torn between the NDP and the Greens. If I vote NDP, it’ll definitely be because of Layton since the NDP candidate has come across as a world-class flake in her constant letters to the local paper, while the Green candidate actually seems respectable (25 years experience in engineering and urban planning). The Conservatives are not an option - a religious one-trick pony upset the incumbent to get the nomination, so even if I’d ever have considered voting Conservative that ended that, and I don’t think I can hold my nose long enough to vote Liberal, even to keep the Conservative out.
Of course, to complicate matters I’m moving to a different riding in the middle of the campaign. I guess if I can’t get my address changed in time I’ll just vote by absentee ballot in my old riding, and if I can, I’ve got a new set of candidates to learn about.
I’m not to thrilled with the prospect of voting Liberal (like most people, I suspect) and I’d rather gouge out my eyes than vote NDP. I’ll probably end up voting Conservative although I’m not a huge fan of Harper.
If it is a minority government, it will be interesting to see how the coalition lines up. Could we see a Conservative-Bloc government (Okay, maybe not)?
The Conservatives have really painted themselves into a corner: if they win a minority government, it’ll be the shortest on record because none of the other three parties in their right mind would ally with them. (The only ones I can see with the slightest chance of doing so would be the Liberals, which would pretty much blow all of their political capital with everyone to the left of, oh, Tom Wappel.)
Another thing to bear in mind besides the prospect of someone with a minority is that owing to the revamped election rules, should you vote for one of the four major parties, that party will receive $1.75 from the gummint.
matt_mcl, I just checked the Elections Canada site, and it looks like that per-vote funding is for ANY registered political party that fulfils the following requirements:
…not just the four big ones. Yet another reason to vote Green. 
(“We’re #5 and we’re trying reeeal hard to get mentioned in the media.”)
At this point, I have absolutely no idea whom I’ll be voting for.
I just wish the Rhino Party would return. They always provided a little levity at election time.
“Vote Rhino–and vote often!”