So let’s skip over any eloquent intro and cut right to the chance…what is up with our Government?!?! Honestly, I feel like I went to bed one night with the Conservatives in power and then woke up the next morning to this “new” Government. Crazy.
Given the rather speed of light manner in which all of this Coalition stuff happened and the alternate universe that I’ve been living in for the past two weeks, I haven’t really had the time yet to read up much on what all of this means and the possible effects that could come as a result of it. What I do know is that it’s made our drive to work absolute anarchy because we pass by both the Governor General’s residence and 24 Sussex…two places that seem to have the ideal outdoor spaces for protesting (and no lack of people willing to join in the fun!)! This alone is putting me in a bit of a grumpy state towards our fearless leaders!
In all honesty though, I haven’t yet decided how I feel about the whole thing. I am a Liberal and have almost always (with one exception) voted Liberal. Internal conflict aside, it’s also in my best interest to have the Liberals in power. They support better environmental initiatives and provide greater support towards the arts; two things obviously near and dear to our household. Now, before any of you get your Conservative knickers in a knot, I also feel that we had the election and that Canadians made their choice. As a voter, I’m willing to respect that choice and hope for a better one come the next time around.
It’s at this point in time that Steve and I begin to have a slight difference of opinion! One of the major arguments regarding the Coalition is that we would suddenly have a Prime Minister who, in fact, collected the least number of votes for his party in years. This is a concern that even I, someone who voted for him, have. Steve, on the other hand, believes that this shouldn’t be an issue because he believes that we don’t actually elect a Prime Minister…we elect Members of Parliament. The bottom line is that Steve is right; ideally, we are to vote for the most appropriate Member of Parliament in our riding, regardless of political affiliation and in turn, once that person becomes Member of Parliament, they are to represent all of their constituents, regardless of who they voted for. Ideally being the operative word.
Realistically though, I don’t believe that is how most people vote. Be it right or wrong, I think that the leader of any given political party highly influences the outcome of an election, in which case, it also highly influences how people feel about a sudden switch in power…especially one that wasn’t made by Canadian citizens. It almost seems to defeat the whole point of democracy in the first place! Perhaps an alternative would have been to include the option of a Coalition on our ballot or even to have a vote for it now.
Either way, I would like to get to work in fifteen minutes or less sometime in the very near future (really…some people can be so self-involved!)!
Given the rather speed of light manner in which all of this Coalition stuff happened and the alternate universe that I’ve been living in for the past two weeks, I haven’t really had the time yet to read up much on what all of this means and the possible effects that could come as a result of it. What I do know is that it’s made our drive to work absolute anarchy because we pass by both the Governor General’s residence and 24 Sussex…two places that seem to have the ideal outdoor spaces for protesting (and no lack of people willing to join in the fun!)! This alone is putting me in a bit of a grumpy state towards our fearless leaders!
In all honesty though, I haven’t yet decided how I feel about the whole thing. I am a Liberal and have almost always (with one exception) voted Liberal. Internal conflict aside, it’s also in my best interest to have the Liberals in power. They support better environmental initiatives and provide greater support towards the arts; two things obviously near and dear to our household. Now, before any of you get your Conservative knickers in a knot, I also feel that we had the election and that Canadians made their choice. As a voter, I’m willing to respect that choice and hope for a better one come the next time around.
It’s at this point in time that Steve and I begin to have a slight difference of opinion! One of the major arguments regarding the Coalition is that we would suddenly have a Prime Minister who, in fact, collected the least number of votes for his party in years. This is a concern that even I, someone who voted for him, have. Steve, on the other hand, believes that this shouldn’t be an issue because he believes that we don’t actually elect a Prime Minister…we elect Members of Parliament. The bottom line is that Steve is right; ideally, we are to vote for the most appropriate Member of Parliament in our riding, regardless of political affiliation and in turn, once that person becomes Member of Parliament, they are to represent all of their constituents, regardless of who they voted for. Ideally being the operative word.
Realistically though, I don’t believe that is how most people vote. Be it right or wrong, I think that the leader of any given political party highly influences the outcome of an election, in which case, it also highly influences how people feel about a sudden switch in power…especially one that wasn’t made by Canadian citizens. It almost seems to defeat the whole point of democracy in the first place! Perhaps an alternative would have been to include the option of a Coalition on our ballot or even to have a vote for it now.
Either way, I would like to get to work in fifteen minutes or less sometime in the very near future (really…some people can be so self-involved!)!
No comments:
Post a Comment