Danger: Political Material Enclosed! Extremely Volatile!
Hopefully, the title should be enough warning to those people who don't like these. Anyways, yesterday I finally got to take part in the democratic process. Sure, it's only one vote, but for someone like me who has always been interested in politics, it's a big deal: that one vote means I have some say in how the government chooses to run my country. I know there's a lot of people who really don't care, and thus don't use their vote, but there's so many people around the world who have no control at all over what their government does to them: look at China, or Iran, or North Korea. Additionally, in Canada, we can be reasonably confident that the election results are actually what people really voted for: that definitely isn't always the case, as evidenced by the election (and subsequent "Orange Revolution") in the Ukraine last year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution) .
Anyways, so to my thoughts on our new government. Firstly, I'm tremendously happy that the Liberals have been kicked out: their colossal wastes of money in the sponsorship and gun registry scandals, among the myriads of others, mean to me that they definitely don't deserve another chance to govern. Secondly, I'm also happy that the Conservatives will form the nucleus of the next government: I've been a strong supporter of their various incarnations over the years (Reform, Alliance (come on, all they had to do was put "Rebel" in front of their name and they would have been a shoo-in to win) , and now the current party), and definitely like this one the most: fiscal responsibility, with less emphasis on the social stuff. I'm especially happy with their plan to revitalize the Canadian military, and particularly Northern defense: maybe now we can go take back Hans Island, and we might be able to send troops overseas without sticking our thumbs out and asking for a lift! Thirdly, I like what they've promised to do that directly impacts my life. The GST cut will be awesome for me and all other students: we spend a lot on consumer stuff such as groceries and school supplies, and the tax really adds up over time. Also, I love how they are planning to make scholarships and bursaries non-taxable income. The change may only come into effect after I've used up mine, but it will help others down the road, and possibly me too. It's stupid to have to pay tax on those at the moment: you get money to help you get an education, so the government taxes you on it to help pay for (among other things) education scholarships and bursaries? Doesn't seem too logical to me...
The only bad side I see in the new Parliament is that the Conservatives will have to team up with the NDP (otherwise known as the new version of Soviet Russian communism!) to get most legislation passed: they can't ally with the Liberals most of the time, because they'll want to play obstructionist, and an alliance with the Bloc doesn't work too well, seeing as their mandate is basically to separate from Canada. Sure, there will be occasional deals with the Liberals and Bloc (hey, Bloc party!), but the Conservatives will mostly have to stick with the "Not Democracy! Party" , which means that they may not be able to pull off all of their promises.
Anyways, so to my thoughts on our new government. Firstly, I'm tremendously happy that the Liberals have been kicked out: their colossal wastes of money in the sponsorship and gun registry scandals, among the myriads of others, mean to me that they definitely don't deserve another chance to govern. Secondly, I'm also happy that the Conservatives will form the nucleus of the next government: I've been a strong supporter of their various incarnations over the years (Reform, Alliance (come on, all they had to do was put "Rebel" in front of their name and they would have been a shoo-in to win) , and now the current party), and definitely like this one the most: fiscal responsibility, with less emphasis on the social stuff. I'm especially happy with their plan to revitalize the Canadian military, and particularly Northern defense: maybe now we can go take back Hans Island, and we might be able to send troops overseas without sticking our thumbs out and asking for a lift! Thirdly, I like what they've promised to do that directly impacts my life. The GST cut will be awesome for me and all other students: we spend a lot on consumer stuff such as groceries and school supplies, and the tax really adds up over time. Also, I love how they are planning to make scholarships and bursaries non-taxable income. The change may only come into effect after I've used up mine, but it will help others down the road, and possibly me too. It's stupid to have to pay tax on those at the moment: you get money to help you get an education, so the government taxes you on it to help pay for (among other things) education scholarships and bursaries? Doesn't seem too logical to me...
The only bad side I see in the new Parliament is that the Conservatives will have to team up with the NDP (otherwise known as the new version of Soviet Russian communism!) to get most legislation passed: they can't ally with the Liberals most of the time, because they'll want to play obstructionist, and an alliance with the Bloc doesn't work too well, seeing as their mandate is basically to separate from Canada. Sure, there will be occasional deals with the Liberals and Bloc (hey, Bloc party!), but the Conservatives will mostly have to stick with the "Not Democracy! Party" , which means that they may not be able to pull off all of their promises.
posted by Andrew Bucholtz at 7:13 p.m.
7 Comments:
Andrew you kill me man. Good to hear your thoughts.
Stew
I heard through the grapvine (probably your sister in Advisory) that you acutally voted NDP. Way to go, I knew you would come around.
A vote for the Not Democracy! Party would only result in bringing Communism to Canada... we don't need another Soviet bloc. Conservatives are the way to go!
Good ideas? Beckham, your mind deceives you...it should worry you that the Bush administration is loving Harper because finally someone who shares the White House's values (and I'm really being "liberal" with my use of values right now)
Right, the White House's "values": Stephen Harper is not George Bush, no matter how much the Liberals and Communists would like him to be (not that being George Bush is always a bad thing: I agree with him on some aspects of his policies). Besides, what does it matter if the U.S. likes our Prime Minister? Maybe they finally have a good reason to, as we no longer have someone (Martin) who blindly uses popular (and idiotic) anti-American sentiment to dictate policy. Harper certainly isn't any lapdog to the U.S. either: I seem to remember his post-election speech dealing very strongly with defending Canada's Arctic sovereignty, and not just letting American ships pass through without asking. Maybe now we have someone who has the guts to give the military the funding they deserve, and let us take Hans Island back from the Danes.
It'd be a wise political move for Harper to try to take back Hans Island; he could use the Islamic vote he'd get from attacking the Danish.
But in all seriousness, you really would like a war to break out over Hans Island? It's a hunk of rock: no trees, no people, nothing but rock. Well I guess that since the Conservatives weren't elected two elections ago Canada missed out on the just absolutely fabulous Iraq War, you feel like your missing out on the fun and games of warmongering. But seriously, I heard a rumor that the Danes were hiding WMD on Hans.
Also pray that you make more income than the lowest 20% of Canadians. Otherwise you'll lose your health care if Harper ever gets a majority government and manages to switch to a private health care system. Of course, even if that does happen it won't be that bad - some corporations can make some more money and the economy will improve slightly (which is really what life is all about) before all the money goes towards the Great Hans Island War and drives Canada into debt again.
Right, because Harper's all about secretly taking away people's health insurance... the most they'd ever implement would be private sector delivered, but public funded, which I happen to agree with (corporations are far more efficient than bureaucracy)... no one loses health insurance over it. Besides, there is a difference between aggressively standing up for your country and starting a war... Denmark would back down if we threatened them. Iraq is a whole different kettle of fish: I happen to agree with it (at least in theory), because any democracy is better than Saddam "ethnic cleansing" Hussein, but I can see why some people choose to disagree with it, as it was not caused by Saddam directly attacking the U.S. Hans Island is a much different story: it is Canadian territory, and as such, needs to be defended like any other part of our territory. The Falklands would be a much more appropriate comparison, and Britain seemed to do pretty well against their territorial invaders there. Furthermore, the North has never been adequately explored: there may be tons of resources down there that could revitalize Canada's economy (look at Siberia and the oil/minerals they are discovering there currently for an example), and thus we need to adequately hang on to it. Giving in to one territorial invasion only leads to more: look at the period between World War One and World War Two for an example. Neville Chamberlain, "great" leader that he was, managed to sacrifice the Rhineland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia to gain "peace in our time", which turned out to be a terrific deal... I'm not saying it's as serious, but history teaches that appeasement is doomed to failure...
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