Upcoming election voting guide

[SilverDog]

All political parties try to make you think they have your best interests at heart, and they use slick advertising, misdirection, and image management to give that impression.

But the simple reality is this:

Progressive Conservatives (PC) = Pro Corporate, pro millionaires & billionaires
NDP = pro union, pro poor, anti-big business
Liberal = balance of interests of big business and workers
Green = pro environment single issue
Bloc Quebecois (BQ) = pro Quebec single issue

So if you think big banks and oil companies, the Bronfmans, and the Seagrams need even more money than they already have, vote PC.

If you are pro labour, you would think you would vote NDP. BUT, they will NOT form the government because they get way too few votes (historically).

Similarly voting Green & BQ is a wasted vote.

Bottom line:

If you are pro-corporate/millionaire/billionaire, vote PC.

If you want a fairer distribution of wealth, vote AGAINST the PCs.

The way to vote AGAINST the PCs would normally be to vote Liberal, but it is smarter to vote strategically. That is, vote for either the Liberals or NDP -- which ever one has the best chance against the PCs in YOUR riding.

In SSM, that is probably NDP, unless Provenzano is popular for whatever reason (his name, Carmen Provenzano).

NOTE:

Voting based on the personality of the leader is ... naive (i.e., dumb). That doesn't affect your life -- the party's policies affect your life.

Voting on a single issue (like fire arm registry) is naive, because you get a whole package of the party's policies that is not in your best interest along with the single issue that you are interested in. PCs especially use those single issues to try to get your vote, but they are really interested in advancing their own policies.

[Huggy85]

No Liberal bias here

[SilverDog]

No Liberal bias here

My bias: I am a moderate, so I vote for balance. When the NDP was in Ontario, I supported PCs to counter-balance the NDP's pro-union and anti-business policies. Since Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980s, the corporations and super-rich have done very, very well. The poor and middle class haven't done well. Restoring balance current means voting against the PCs (or Republicans in the US).

Under Cretien, Paul Martin acted like a PC with the cuts, etc. Since then, Bob Rae and Ignatieff and probably others have swayed the Liberals away from the relatively extreme right.

Anyway, my so-called "Liberal bias" is a result of my personal preference for moderation and against extremism.

I still think this voting guide can help people understand where parties stand, and therefore help people decide who to vote for.