I voted last week in the Canadian Federal Election. Green. I voted Green. I voted in the first place because I felt an obligation to everyone that has locked themselves in a crate or jumped off a cargo ship just to set foot in this country. I voted, but it was not an educated decision. After swearing to myself that I would be much better informed the next time an opportunity came round to exercise one of my fundamental rights I would be much better informed, I began to wonder…. Why Green?
It seems to me I could just as easily have voted Conservative. The party colour is blue and my favourite colour is blue, so why not vote Conservative? Despite the fact that after skimming over the general party platform and agreeing with the vast majority of policies, I couldn’t convince myself to put a little ‘x’ next to Andrew Saxton’s name. Is it because at 31 (almost 32) I can’t be Conservative? I just…. Can’t! Conservative by definition it opposed to change, which is just so not me. Don’t you have to be much older than 31 to be so old school?
Then, what about Liberal? To be liberal implies tolerance, and being open to new ideas. That sounds like a younger person’s movement, does it not? I was too busy following the US debates to pay much attention to our leaders hashing it out – but the talk around the water cooler among those that did watch were not convinced that the Liberal leader could… well… lead. Sorry Don Bell, my brother is a big fan, but that’s kind of a problem for me.
From what I have seen, Jack Layton is mean. I refuse to vote for a mean guy to lead my nation. I’m sure that the representative Michael Charrois is a very dependable guy, and would have followed the NDP policies (whatever they may have been), but I’m not voting for his bully of a boss.
I hadn’t even heard of the Libertarian Party until I was actually at the voting station. Although I did consider it for a moment, Tunya Audain did not get my vote.
So really, the only other option was Green. The early comment around the water cooler gave the Green Party Leader the highest praise of the debaters. Plus, Green implies environmental consciousness and who among us doesn’t like the concept of a government looking out for Mother Earth as Well? Green appealed to the hippie inside of me, and the belief that we can find better ways to live within our means. So, basically I made a lot of assumptions about what the Green Party stands for, without stopping to really consider the plausibility of any of the policies and… put an ‘x’ beside Jim Stephanson’s name.
The Green Party didn’t win in my riding, of course. Conservative Andrew Saxton defeated long time Liberal MP Don Bell and is my new Representative in the House of Commons. I’m kind of ashamed and disappointed in myself for not making an educated vote this time. I can’t go back and re-do the last two weeks, but I will be keeping tabs on Mr. Saxton’s reign in office the bills he supports and opposes and whatever else it is that my MP is supposed to do. Which means that I need to be more on top of things.
I think I will start here:
www.andrewsaxton.ca - My new MP’s website, which seems to be a lot of what I am going to label as “light propaganda” mixed with information about himself and his party and the issues he is believes in.
www.parl.gc.ca - Parliament of Canada website. After a very brief scan of the site I think it’s most likely an incredible resource for those who are really interested in learning about all things relating to our governing body. It’s a little intimidating at this point, but I’m sure I’ll get more used to it.
www.mapleleafeweb.com - An amazing site for folks like me who want to be able to digest everything on the Parliament of Canada website but aren’t quite ready for that step just yet. Kind of a like a cross between Coles Notes and an editorial…. Worth a visit!