Bull Of Heaven
99 Pounders / 4'3" Feet
Today, Canada is wrapping up an absolute garbage-tier election. I didn't see a thread about it, and I guess I could use a semi-anonymous space to vent a little.
For those not from here, the Liberal Party was in government, but had less than a majority of the seats in the House of Commons. They were polling well throughout the pandemic, and thought they saw a chance for a majority. So, over the objections of the main opposition parties, they decided to call an election two years before they needed to, in the middle of a deadly pandemic that is now once again surging in some provinces. Great work, guys.
Anyway, check out our main parties:
The NDP is the party most aligned with my values, but I wasn't impressed with their campaign, and the Liberals are better-positioned to keep the Conservatives out of government. I do think the Liberal fearmongering about the Conservatives is a little much, but on climate alone a Conservative government really would scare me. And honestly, I think these last couple of years have given me a bit of a crisis of faith in NDP-style progressive politics that I'm very much still processing.
So there it is. I don't think I regret my vote, but I certainly don't feel good about it. I feel like the Liberals have played me, and I knew it, but I just didn't find a better move than to go along with it. If they win my riding, I think my MP will get a letter from me soon.
How's everyone else holding up?
For those not from here, the Liberal Party was in government, but had less than a majority of the seats in the House of Commons. They were polling well throughout the pandemic, and thought they saw a chance for a majority. So, over the objections of the main opposition parties, they decided to call an election two years before they needed to, in the middle of a deadly pandemic that is now once again surging in some provinces. Great work, guys.
Anyway, check out our main parties:
- The Liberal Party (centrist) got into government on a progressive image, and has gotten a few things accomplished (e.g. legal marijuana, carbon pricing) but has overall failed to deliver what many of its voters expected, and has picked up some scandals along the way.
- The Conservative Party (centre-right) is the only other party at all likely to form the government. It's run a fairly moderate campaign, but it largely relies on a base of voters in oil country, and has weak proposals on key issues like climate change and cost of living.
- The New Democratic Party (centre-left/socdem) talks a good progressive game, but has run a campaign light on policy substance, which makes me wonder whether it would know what to do if it somehow actually got into power.
- The Green Party (environmentalist) talks about implementing large-scale progressive change, but, with very little presence in Parliament, is already a disorganized mess. Not promising, in my opinion.
- The Bloc Québecois (Quebec nationalist) is a separatist party that only runs in Quebec. I'm not from there, and I don't live there, so I won't talk about this party except to mention that they seem to get very offended if anyone tries to start anything resembling a serious conversation about systemic racism.
- There's also a party running on xenophobia, climate denial, and pandemic-related irresponsibility. But enough said about that.
The NDP is the party most aligned with my values, but I wasn't impressed with their campaign, and the Liberals are better-positioned to keep the Conservatives out of government. I do think the Liberal fearmongering about the Conservatives is a little much, but on climate alone a Conservative government really would scare me. And honestly, I think these last couple of years have given me a bit of a crisis of faith in NDP-style progressive politics that I'm very much still processing.
So there it is. I don't think I regret my vote, but I certainly don't feel good about it. I feel like the Liberals have played me, and I knew it, but I just didn't find a better move than to go along with it. If they win my riding, I think my MP will get a letter from me soon.
How's everyone else holding up?