I added a little widget that plays the song “Maybe You’re Right” by Barenaked Ladies. I really enjoy this song, as it captures the way you fight yourself over your opinions when other people do no accept them. Do yo just concede and tell yourself that you are right, or do you speak out? That’s my take on the song anyways.

If this is truly annoying, I will take it off. I know sometimes the web can be full of little trinkets, and I don’t want to overwhlem my readers. So let me know.

My last few posts have garnered a lot of feedback, both positive and negative. I’m being told by many that by criticizing the Liberal and Green Party, I am somehow helping Harper. This is very deceitful.

First of all, this is Canada, not America. Things work a little different here. Canada has a long history of third parties. To say that voting NDP is splitting the left is just nonsense, that argument can be used for both the Liberals and the Greens. It depends on your political compass, but the Liberal party and Green party are not left on my compass. Ordinary people vote for the NDP, because the party holds their values the most. Are these people supposed to vote for another party to try and keep Harper out of power? Absolutely not. We already have the merging of two parties on the right, and I definitely do not want to see that limited choice on my side of the fence. I want to have the choice to vote NDP, Green, Liberal, and Conservative no matter what riding I live in. I don’t want to have a two party dictatorship that exists in the USA. I will resign my membership from the NDP the day that they don’t run a candidate in a riding as part of a backroom deal with another party.

The right is united, but they are weak. They have such diverse views in the party, that one day it will fall apart, it can’t be sustained in the current way. While the right is united, I do realize that this means that they will have a good chance of forming government, but they will have a really hard time forming a majority government if the left remains strong—Divided but not merged into one fake weak package. A minority Conservative government, in my opinion, is about the same as a majority Liberal government. They don’t go flying past the right benchmark the Liberals have set, because they know if they do, they will lose support.

Scott Tribe brings up an interesting point. He states that if the NDP, Greens and Liberals worked together, and pulled candidates out of ridings to ensure a left success there would be a minority government formed that could bring in Proportional Representation. First of all, if such a deal were made between those three parties, I would not vote for any of them. I wouldn’t vote for the Conservatives definitely, so if there weren’t a good independent candidate (Which I’m sure there would be plenty of if such a deal was made between the three parties), I would just stay home and note vote. I won’t vote for something because it’s less evil than the other choice. I won’t vote for something that I don’t believe in.

To get back to my point about Scott’s interesting idea of bringing Proportional Representation under a new minority government. Why damage democracy in order to achieve this end? I for one don’t believe that the end always justifies the means—Look at Iraq and the end of Saddam’s reign, were the means worth the end? Why don’t the NDP and Liberals work together in Parliament NOW to bring in Proportional Representation? I do realize that the NDP and Liberals do not have all the votes to pass such a motion, but the Conservatives don’t have all the votes to defeat such a motion. This applies to many other progressive issues that could be solved in this parliament, but instead the opportunity is wasted due to a lack of vision. It seems the Liberal party refuses to work with the NDP to pass any progressive motions, because they are too busy planning the next election and not maintaining a progressive vision for Canada. Also, what makes me think that the Liberals would support Proportional Representation after doing such a deal with the Greens and NDP? I don’t consider their word to be of much worth, considering the last 13 years of Liberal rule. Damaging democracy to try and improve democracy makes about as much sense as pre-emptive war.

To finish off, I’d just like to say to everyone who reads this post: Vote for whom you support in the next election. Don’t use your vote to keep another party out. It never works, just look at the past two Canadian elections. Vote with your heart, and Canada will continue to be the best country to live in.

Looks like the NDP has taken the next step in fighting ATM fees. This should generate an interesting debate in parliament and show what side the Finance Minister really stands on. ATM fees are unfair—Canadians should never be charged to access their own money. Let’s just hope that this ends the debate and the bill gets voted into law, and Canada can be a better country.

NDP

The Liberals’ record on this issue during their 12 years in power can best be likened to an arsonist returning to the scene of the crime and shouting: “OMIGAWD! WHERE ARE THE FIRE TRUCKS?”

The Liberals, first under Jean Chretien and then Paul Martin, were at least 30% behind their own Kyoto target of reducing man-made greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels, starting in 2008, when they were defeated last year. But even that figure grossly underestimates the extent of the Liberals’ failure to address what they now insist is the number one crisis facing our planet.

In their 1993 Red Book, Chretien and Martin (who co-authored the document) promised to reduce Canada’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1988 levels by 2005.

Thus, the Liberal government’s dismal record of steadily increasing greenhouse gas emissions from 1993 to early 2006 can fairly be described as one of repeatedly watering down its own targets.

 …

While May praises Dion and the Liberals now on global warming, here’s what the Sierra Club of Canada, when May was executive director, said about their environmental record in the fall of 2000: “On issue after issue, in the last eight years, Canada has moved from a leadership environmental position globally, to being a laggard and international embarrassment. Whether in negotiations to control persistent organic pollutants, or to reduce greenhouse gases … Canada is now achieving a new reputation — as a country that blocks progress to environmental goals.”

Winnipeg Sun