While I don't agree with everything Harper stands for, I feel he is the strongest leader of the bunch. Even in the debate, it was everybody bitching and complaining at Harper. Instead of standing on their platform alone, they felt the need to belittle the status quo - to bitch and complain about everything that is wrong in Canada. I feel that there is something inherently wrong with this. Maybe its a problem in other countries as well, but I have always felt that the bashing the competition was something that we as Canadians did not put up with.
At least its something I don't put up with. Which is why for all their mistakes and blunders, I will be voting for the Conservatives this time around (despite protesting last time against Anders with a Marxist-Leninist vote).
Jack Layton is not a viable option. He knows he won't win - which makes him free to bash everybody he feels like so that he can try to muster up some support. What he doesn't realize is that the critical voter can see through his blustering. How many times did he mention Exxon in the debate? How many times did he say that he wanted to focus on the kitchen table instead of the boardroom table? What does that even mean? No matter the policy their will not be economic parity among all class levels, communism proved that. Focusing on the "kitchen table" simply changes who we tax, ultimately the taxation is the same: your employer pays you less because they are being taxed but your taxes are less so your discretionary income stays the same. Do Canadians feel that such a dramatic change in our economic policy is necessary? Businesses trying to adapt to such a shift would create new opportunities, but the turmoil would also result in lost opportunities, lost revenues and ultimately, a decrease in the power of the Canadian economy. In such tumultuous times is such a dramatic change wise? Personally, I would advocate some tweaking but nothing more.
The same can be said for the liberals. The green shift is a great idea in theory - but only in theory. Ignoring the recent occurences in the US, our economic plans are working great - Canada is experiencing growth, our dollar is near par with the American and the average Canadian seems to be happy. In my opinion the Liberal plan is far too dramatic. To me their platform screams of desperation and it feels far too extreme. They simply want to capitalize on what they feel is a popular trend towards green technology. If I had an extreme vote I would choose the Green Party thank you very much.
I'm not even going to even get into the green party (however I think they actually understand their target voter more than the other parties - they simply don't have the numbers within their target) or the bloc (although Duceppe impressed me more than any other leader, he is clearly focused on one thing - Quebec).
Harper is the devil we know. He doesn't promise huge changes to the economy, huge tax cuts or really anything huge. He is not making fancy promises that he does not have the ability to keep. He simply promises the status quo. Prior to the US economic failure we would have been happy with this promise, and his points in the debate are correct - we do have greater control over our securities markets. An Enron-like situation would be impossible here. The bank situation would not happen here. Our controls are too great - our markets require more disclosure of information, accountants can't "cook the books". Yes we will feel some backlash due to our ties with the United States but the effects will not be as dramatic - we are our own country (and that is something that we as Canadians should be proud of).
And one last sidepoint because it really ticked me off. May raised the point of our manufacturing jobs shifting to service jobs as though they were "lower productivity" and as though this was a bad thing. Our manufacturing jobs have always been shifting towards service jobs. This has been a trend over the past couple years and is nothing new. Service jobs require knowledge. It shows our increasing education levels as a population and is a trend we should be embracing!
Think about a recent university graduate that you know. Did they go to work on the oil rigs or on an assembly line in a factory? No they got a high paying job as a lawyer, business executive, doctor, consultant, etc. These are high level service jobs that require an education. Yes the benefits produced are intangible, but that does not make them "low productivity". Do you look down on CEO's for not creating a physical product? What about your doctor or lawyer? No, these are respected members of our community - they are prestigious jobs! These are the jobs that May would have you believe are bad! Sorry for that rant but it really ticked me off in the debate. I am studying business at the UofC and will ultimately be providing some sort of service, as will my peers. If May would have us all working on assembly lines so we can be 'productive' then maybe she should get with the times.
While things will probably hinge on the crucial southern Ontario/Quebec vote my money is on another Conservative minority.
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