Who are you voting for?
I am surpised no one has talked about the election comming up on the 28th. Who are you voting for?
This is not from me... but:
This is not from me... but:
My name is Alan Robberstad
I am a Canadian.
One voter out of millions of Canadian voters.
Paul Martin is no friend of mine.
Liberal governments have not made my life any better.
Liberal governments have made the future worse for my
children.
Jean Chretien and the Liberal Party became Prime
Minister many years ago.
Guess who was the Liberal Finance Minister.....Paul
Martin...LEST WEFORGET
Since 1993:
(1) My taxes have increased.
(2) My family's share of the national debt has increased.
(3) My personal expenses have increased.
(4) My waiting time to see a doctor has increased.
(5) My concerns for my family's safety have increased.
(6) My costs to educate my children have increased.
(7) Government interference in my life has increased.
(8) My personal debt has increased.
(9) My income has stayed more or less the same.
(10) My savings have decreased.
(11) The buying power of my dollar, in Canada, has decreased.
(12) The value of my dollar, in the U.S., has decreased.
(13) My trust of elected officials has decreased.
(14) My trust in the justice system has decreased.
(15 )My trust in the immigration system has decreased.
(16) My hope that a Liberal won't waste my tax dollars has
decreased.
(17 )My dreams for a better future for my kids, in Canada,
have
disappeared.
That is my story since the Liberals came to power.
I am not voting for Paul Martin's Liberals.
I am voting against Paul Martin and his Liberal Party on June 28,
2004.
I am voting for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party.
Do I like the Conservatives?
Not particularly......I don't really like Politics.
I am not political by nature.
I am not passionate about politics.
I am a middle age guy (48).
I live in a small house on a fairly quiet street in Edmonton.
I have a wife, Kathy, and two children (ages 19 and 17).
I have no pets.
I am a middle class man.
I don't usually say too much.
Until now.
Now I am going to say something!
In 35 of the past 37 years, Canada has been ruled by:
Quebec.
(2) Brian Mulroney - a multi-millionaire lawyer from Quebec.
(3) Jean Chretien - a multi-millionaire lawyer from Quebec.
(4) And now we are going to vote for Paul Martin???? - a
multi-millionaire lawyer from Quebec???
The leader of the Conservative party, Stephen Harper, is:
(1) Not a lawyer.
(2) Not a multi-millionaire.
(3) Not from Quebec.
Stephen Harper says that the Conservative party will:
(1) Reduce my taxes.
(2) Pay off the national debt as fast as they can.
(3) Shrink the size and influence of the federal government.
That's good enough for me.
I'm going to give the Conservative party a chance with my vote.
But wait!
Paul Martinis now saying the same thing.
My mother told me forty years ago:
"Fool me once - shame on you.
Fool me twice - shame on me!"
The Liberals have had 34 years to be financially responsible.
Remember, Jean Chretien was Trudeau's Finance Minister.
Remember also, Paul Martin was Jean Chretien's Finance Minister
These people have been raising my taxes for thirty four years.
They have been mis-spending my tax dollars for 34 years.
34 years!
And now Paul Martin says he'll stop taxing and spending.
No way.
Comments
For example:
Not true, unless he is taking into account a decrease in his family size. The per capita national debt has decreased over that time period. Not only is this true in absolute terms, the inflation-adjusted per capita national debt has *dramatically* decreased over that time period.
http://www.fin.gc.ca/frt/2003/frt03_3e.html#Table%2015
[The population of Canada from the 1991 Census to the 2001 Census increased by about 13%.]
Furthermore, federal debt as a percentage of GDP (thought by many to be a more informative measure of government debt levels) has decreased dramatically since 1993.
http://www.fin.gc.ca/ec2003/eca1e.html
[See the table "Federal debt-to-GDP ratio on a downward track", right-hand scale]
Nice. Stereotype a whole province and pass it off as some kind of political argument.
Too bad he failed to mention Pierre Trudeau, thought by many to have been one of the greatest Canadian leaders of all time. Which province was he from again? Was he a lawyer?
http://www.clevernet.net/pierre_trudeau/bio_pierre_trudeau.html
Oh, and with all the belly-aching about taxes, I see he failed to mention the greatest single tax increase at the consumer level in Canadian history: GST. I wonder what party was responsible for that. I wonder if the largest single consumer tax hike in Canadian history, introduced in 1991, could have possibly caused financial hardships for middle class Canadians during the time period 1993-2004. Nah... couldn't be.
ScottyZ
stp
Anyway, I believe Dalton is really hurting the Federal Liberals. It is going to be a very close race, and I predict a Liberal minority, which will be really nice for once.
On a side note, how can you vote NDP? Look what happened last time they were in :shock:
Hey, that's exciting! My first vote was actually the federal referendum on the Charlottetown accord. (That will probably give you a rough idea of my age if you care to calculate it. To save you time, I'm 30.) 8)
I don't believe that the NDP have ever been in power federally. Perhaps you're thinking provincially, i.e. Ontario, where Bob Rae made a mess of things some time back?
ScottyZ
D'oh! I was in fact thinking of Bob Rae, but for some reason I thought it was federal, which I don't know why as I wrote an essay on the last 15 Prime Minister's this year. But yeah don't vote NDP! :twisted:
I believe it was No. I voted for whichever choice made Canada into one country instead of two.
One really exciting part, was that it turned out to be a very close vote.... like 50.something% to 49.(100-something)%.
One thing I found pretty shocking was the number of people I asked in the days leading up to the vote who had actually *read* the Charlottetown Accord (a whopping 4 page document). It was zero. I was happy to see that quite a few people I had asked subsequently *did* read the document without me ever saying another word about it.
Especially with the state of the internet as it is now, it's quite easy to get a lot of information (party platforms, historical performance of parties in power, etc), and that was kind of one of the points of me including a bunch of hyperlinks in my original post. There is a *lot* of information out there, and IMO each and every person can, and should, be able to make up their own minds (at least to some degree). I almost said, "easily make up their own minds", but it's not easy. However, it's not too difficult to handle either, I think.
Learn for yourself. With respect to the specific issues, don't take my word for it, and certainly don't take Alan Robberstad's word for it. While the exchange of political ideas with your peers can certainly be part of your decision making process, you should (hopefully) have access enough information to be able to clear up, or learn for the first time, any facts you think would be useful to you.
Many say that voting is an important thing to do. Not necessarily so. Voting, in addition to knowing *why* you are voting in whatever way you choose too, is paramount.
ScottyZ
P.S. Vote Liberal. 8)
Also how you said that most people did not read the Accord. I don't blame them as it was 4 pages long. Another reason why I feel referdenums and things of this nature aren't worth while. Although it gives the public a bigger voice and allows them to make discisions themselves, it isn't worth it in the long run...