October 14
Let’s talk about Canada and October 14.
As I’ve mentioned before, I have problems with Stephen Harper and the Conservatives. Harper keeps a fairly tight leash on his party and its members. He governs as though he has a majority by forcing confidence motions. His party deliberately obstructs Parliament. His party ran attack ads for a year before the election. Beyond my problems with his ethics, I’m also not a fan of conservative ideology, whether fiscal or social. I just don’t believe that cutting services and taxes is a good idea.
Stephane Dion and the Liberals are a lot more interesting. I had my reservations about Dion, since he pretty much has no charisma, which is important to have when campaigning. I have no doubt that he’d make a pretty good Prime Minister. The problem, of course, is getting there. He’s reasonably smart, is a progressive, and doesn’t seem to hold contempt for democracy like Harper does. His platform has stuff that I can agree with, and while I’m not a huge environmentalist, I can understand that the Green Shift is a way to tackle global warming and poverty at once.
Finally, we have Jack Layton and the NDP. Much of the NDP platform is similar to that of the Liberals, except for their proposal to reverse corporate tax cuts. The most notable thing for me is that their stance on digital issues is a lot more firm than that of the Liberals. Jack Layton also has been a pretty good leader, if a bit aggressive in attacking the other parties. Of course, they carry the stigma of Bob Rae’s Ontario NDP, who managed to make everyone forget that and somehow end up as a prominent Liberal.