Why you should vote New Democrat on Tuesday

I don't blog here often and probably don't have any readers as a result. But in my own blog I posted this, so if there are two or three people that read this, here is the reasons why i'm voting New Democrat, and so should you if you agree with them! :)

So here are the reasons if you need convincing or want them:

1) Jack Layton is a leader you can trust and Stephen Harper = FAIL

The Conservatives wanted to make this campaign all about leadership, so it became a main focus of the campaign. So much so, it seemed as if there campaign theme was 'Stephen Harper has a family, and his son plays hockey'. Which is all good and fine, go families. But when it comes to the kind of leader he actually is he cannot be trusted. If you are looking for the laundry list of why Harper government's record bad news bears check out this whole range of articles by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Just from this election timing, I think Harper can be shown not to be trusted as he broke his government's very own fixed election date law in order to try and win before the economy went in the crapper since they knew the economic shitstorm was clearly coming.

Harper isn't exactly the type of leader I trust in these economically troubled times either. If the economy goes into recession and we have a deficit again, I could easily foresee that as his opportunity to push through massive cutbacks to government just like the Liberals and Mike Harris did in the 90's. I would hate to use the 'George Bush' comparison, but yeah, Harper is kind of like that guy too. And we'll get more Bush like stuff with Harper.

Speaking of the Liberals, I don't really trust them either. They always govern on a few great ideas and become Conservative when in government. And lately, even when they are in opposition as the supported the Conservatives on confidence votes 43 times.

Jack Layton however, is a guy I can trust. You know where he stands, you know that he opposed the Conservative agenda at every opportunity. I can rely that Jack will use whatever tools at his disposal to put forward progressive policies that Canadians are asking for. He is the kind of Prime Minister I would want.

2) The New Democrats have the most progressive policies and you can be sure they'll get them done

And what kind of progressive policies are the New Democrats putting forward? They are right here in the
NDP platform.

There are a ton of good ideas in there, that are also fully costed and can be easily implemented, so i'll just highlight the greatest hits. If you don't want to read even that, i'll spell it out for: an NDP government would result in a greener Canada that will meet Kyoto, protect consumers and jobs, reduce poverty and create a national childcare system, save health care, help correct historic injustices with First Nations people, renegotiate NAFTA, reform our outdated electoral system, and play a leadership role on the global stage.

Here our my personal favourite policies:

-I love the protecting consumers section on page 12-13. All to frequently we get hossed from the corporations. Usually the banks, phone companies, or gas companies. Having more protection for consumers would be amazing. I'm still shaking my fist at Bell for being unable to get out of my contract. You'll be shaking your fist a lot less under an NDP government.

-The stuff for post-secondary students on page 15, also good. Will keep it more affordable, less of a debt burden down the road.

-The childcare and poverty section: on page 17-19, also one of the main reasons I support the New Democrats. Making it more affordable to raise a family and provide a home for every Canadian needs to be a cornerstone of our society, and they have it right there and will get it done. You'll be struggling with the bills less with Jack in charge.

-Starting on page 21, the platform gets into health care. Protecting health care, hiring more doctors and nurses to reduce wait times, and bring in national pharmacare for prescription drugs. All necessary steps to save health care, something I don't really trust that Harper will get done. It was one of his 5 promises in his last platform in 2006, and he didn't get it done.

-Environmental policy: On page 28, the platform starts to fully get into the environmental policy with a pledge to meet the obligations of the Kyoto Accord. This will be done through reducing pollutions on industry through a cap and trade system.

There is also an environmental car strategy to make a transition to low-emission vehicles, which is killing two birds with one stone by reducing pollution and making us less dependent on oil. Dedicating a portion of the gas tax to public transportation is also much needed. Awesome stuff.

Halting any new tar sands development until it is more sustainable is also very necessary. The tar sands is Canada's biggest source of pollution, and we should only take the oil out if we can make it less environmentally destructive.

The Renewable Energy Act on the next page is also a super awesome pledge by dedicating Canada towards meeting 35% of our energy needs from renewables by 2020.

-First Nations: On page 35, the policies to help First Nations people of Canada are outlined. These will help end the shameful third world infrastructure the government gave many of communities and go further towards correcting historic injustices.

-Trade agreements: I also dig the section on international trade agreements on page 37. Having a government that would renegotiate NAFTA and stop supporting the regressive neo-liberal international agreements that stealthy privatize governments need to be firmly opposed.

-Electoral Reform: Changing our outdated 19th century democracy to a truly 21st century system that includes proportional representation! On page 39! That's what i'm talking about. Abolishing the Senate and floor crossing definitely awesome stuff. Sorry, as a poli-sci guy, this stuff excites me.

-Canada in the world: Lots of big picture stuff about what Canada's role in the world should be. Having a better strategy to end the war in Afghanistan, reducing global poverty, and supporting the concerns of developing nations would certainly live up to the street cred Canada has across the world.


So if you read this whole thing, you can see that I think Jack Layton is the best leader to be Prime Minister, someone you can trust, and that I believe the NDP policies are progressive and easy to implement. I'll also ad at the end, that I think the roster of NDP MPs up for re-election as well as the candidates are a great time. One of the parties strengths is its MPs that are hard working, and I could easily see them in a cabinet lead by a Prime Minister Layton.

There ya have it, vote for your local New Democrat candidate on Tuesday! Head for Elections Canada if you need more info! www.elections.ca. Go Democracy!