Naturally, there will always be people who will blindly follow a party and leader without looking at who they are and what their plans for the country are. You can stick as many labels as you want to political leaders, but in the end, you had better make sure those BS arguments have no impact on your final decision.
This election is about what values and ideals you most adhere to. What direction you want the country to take. Taking a blindly partisan stand is damaging to democracy.
I strongly disagree with Harper's vision for Canada, but I acknowledge that he has done good things. I like his commitment to the military, this is one of the biggest issues I have with the federal government. Our military has suffered greatly because of budget cuts and a lack of emphasis on its importance.
Our international reputation has been declining for the past few decades, and it has been getting a whole lot worse under Harper's direction. We used to be a country that was admired for 'punching above its weight', we were leaders on the world stage. We stood for a lot of things, but now we dont seem to stand for anything. Pearson would be saddened to see how small we have become... how we have no ambition.
I love how Harper has started to aggressively stake our claim in the north, I believe this is vital going forward. I hate how we have been acting like the Edmonton Oilers in living in the glory of our past commitment to peacekeeping and a strong, worldwide diplomatic corps. We have become an afterthought.
I do not like where we have been heading, and I do not like Harper's vision of Canada.
Ignatieff said this:
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We can choose a small Canada—a diminished, mean, and petty country. A Canada that lets down its citizens at home and fails them abroad. A Canada that’s absent on the world stage.
That’s Stephen Harper’s Canada.
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While that is true, Harper is not the only one to blame. We have been heading down this road since Mulroney and Chretien. Chretien tried to make a commitment to providing Canadian leadership in Africa, but it was largely for show... his group gave out Canadian flags to kids in Africa, then took them back as they left. That pretty much sums up our attitude towards international affairs. Its all smoke and mirrors.
There is no substance, no ambition, no optimistic vision for the country.
Ignatieff has shown to me that he recognizes this, and has convinced me that he will work to change that.
I can think of no better time to bring in a new, broader, more ambitious vision for the country than right before the world comes to our doorstep in Vancouver.
Ignatieff has said that he would not only increase our military presence in the arctic, but also greatly improve infrastructure. He has preached over and over again that he does not believe in the politics of division. He has not talked badly about Alberta or talk about the mythical 'Alberta tar sands' that the far left keeps warning us about. Many people have criticised him for standing up for the Athabasca oil sands, but it shows that he will tone down the partisan rhetoric and work with the provinces. He knows the best he could hope for in Alberta is one seat in Edmonton, yet he still knows not to play division politics against Alberta... even if it makes him less popular in the east.
These elections keep happening for one reason... and that is that two thirds of Canada do not want a right wing government. There is a left majority in parliament, and there is no way Harper is going to keep them happy. He tried to force his agenda through parliament, and it ended up almost causing another election just a couple months after the last one. The only way Parliament will be stable for a few years is if the left is in power. That is the bottom line. If Canada would have accepted a Right wing majority, it would have been when Dion was the leader.
As for the economy, Ignatieff is not saying Harper is responsible for the recession, he is saying he is not the leader we need right now... this is what he is actually saying:
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In fact, only two hundred of the twelve hundred infrastructure projects that the Conservatives announced in Ontario have actually received the funding they were promised. Only Stephen Harper could count that as being 80% underway.
Third, we demanded a credible plan to get Canada out of deficit. Stephen Harper’s response has been: “Don’t worry, give it a few years, and the books will balance themselves.” You can put that next to his promise not to run deficits in the first place. Or his promise not to tax income trusts. Or his promise not to appoint Senators.
For a decade, under liberal governments, Canada led the world in debt reduction. We had the best fiscal performance in the G8. But the conservatives put us back in the red, even before the recession. And now they can’t even tell us how deep a hole they’ve put us in, let alone their plan for getting us out of it.
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