The majority of you will be aware that Canada recently had yet another election after a vote of non-confidence toppled the Conservative party that headed a minority government. While it seems excessive to have had so many elections in the last few years I was fairly excited to get rid of the Conservatives. I find their politics morally reprehensible, which is ironic given they like to parade themselves as morally upright. A short list of the Conservative Party's MAJOR shortcomings includes:
- They aim to make it more difficult for women to gain access to abortions
- They have a history of removing services intended to help the Indigenous community and have a pathetic attitude when it comes to issues such as the Highway of Tears
- They aim to reverse the legalization of gay marriage in Canada
- They want to give more tax breaks to major corporations and to wealthier families while systematically offering fewer social services, increasing privatization of healthcare and minimizing retirement aid.
- They want to align us more closely with the United States' economy (which seems ridiculous seeing as it just tanked HARD)
- They want to sustain an overseas war that no one wants
- They want to spend more money on the military and expanding the prison system (crime rates have been falling for years) instead of important things like our struggling educational system
- They have no plan and no interest in making plans to deal with environmental concerns. In fact, they seem to take the stance that the environment is just fine and that all this concern is over nothing
And like I said, this was the short list. At this point I didn't even much care which party replaced the Conservatives, I just wanted Stephen Harper out. In the days leading up to the election I was so excited to see people my own age showing an interest for once, and really believed we might be capable of change. So I went out, I voted, and then I waited for the results.
The Conservatives now have a majority government. I can't believe it. REALLY Canada?! On the bright side, it was a historical election in that the New Democratic Party is for the first time the official Opposition, and we have elected our first Green Party Member of Parliament. These can be fairly called great leaps forward, and in this sense I'm proud of my countrymen. But I am not proud that I'm going to have to deal with Stephen Harper's bullshit for the next four years. It makes me so happy I'm headed to Germany, and hell, maybe I'll just try and stay there.
While I would never deny it is a huge privilege to have been born in a country where I have the right to vote and am able to exercise that right, I find our political system hugely frustrating. In a first-past-the-post system the majority of the country can have voted for the losers (like in this case, when 60% of the country voted for NDP, Liberal, Green, or Other) but regardless the party with the most votes wins (the Conservatives with 40% of the country). In this sense I envy the United States. Their political system may have some serious flaws but at least they can have a party that the majority of the country is actually behind.
You may be wondering why this was filed as a Facebook Find - it's because that picture was posted on my newsfeed and it seemed to perfectly encapsulate the situation.
Canada.... today you disappointed me.
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