Well, I'll be quick and to the point,..
Background Info: I live in Quebec and consider myself 100% Canadian. (FYI: An elglish speaking Canadian living in Quebec is at best a second class citizen and at worst we have the right to remain silent, anything we say can and will be used against us by the language police.)
Thoughts on the upcomming election,..
What about Paul Martin? (Liberal Leader) Well, I have nothing good to say about a man who goes out of his way to lie or avoid telling the truth. But maybe I shouldn't be too hard on him, he is a politician after all, and it's in their nature to be like that.
What about Gilles Duceppe? (Bloq Leader) Well, no federal politition should be allowed to run for Prime Minister of CANADA if all they have is a 'Provincial' adgenda. All Gilles talks about is making Quebec better off. But HELLO! Quebec is just one provence, he has yet to show any real interest in the rest of Canada. Not exactly my idea of what the Prime Minister of Canada should be.
What about Stephen Harper? (Conservative Leader) This one is easy,.. any politician that lists "Lower Taxes" as part of his campaign promises should be disgarded with extreme prejudice. The term "Lower Taxes" has allways proven to be the exact opposite. Don't believe me? Ok, vote for him, and when your taxes go up send an extra 3% my way for giving you this warning.
What about Jack Layton? (NDP Leader) Well, he walks, talks and acts like a very bad used car salesman. I just can't see myself buying anything from him. He's against the privatization of healthcare. Well, if you look at it as a way to replace the current healthcare then I'd have to agree. But if it is put in place to 'suppliment' the current healthcare. To give the people that pay high health insurance (Blue Cross etc, or happen to be in the middle to high income bracket) the option of going to a private hospital for their care. Well, I see no reason to prohibit that option. If all or most of the 'insured/rich' people went to private hospitals, the immediate effect would be to reduce waiting times in our current over-crowded hospitals. Canada's healthcare system is in serious trouble, spending wads of money to pay for 'overtime' in our hospitals to offset the long waiting periods is going to lead to dire consequences. We can't keep asking our healthcare givers to work 60+ hours/week indefinately. Eventually it will lead to burnout. The entire system will then collapse.(I'm sorry if I got a bit too verbose on this issue, but all four candidates don't seem to realise the gravity of our healthcare situation.)
So, with all this said, who am I going to vote for? Martin? Duceppe? Harper? Layton? Well, I guess there is no good choice this time, so I'll probably vote Liberal. The logic behind this is that although things will still get worse, I think they will get worse at a slightly slower pace with the Liberals. And, I can only hope that in 4 years my choices are better and a new candidate arrives with Canada's well being as his/her top priority.
I usually stay away from political threads, but I felt that it was about time you all got a better idea of my political views.
Have a great day, Cheers!
[ June 19, 2004, 11:34: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]