Go and Vote!

Happy Elections Day, Canada!

Time to put your ballot where your heart is. This election campaign season has been FULL of surprises (Jack Layton's NDP squashing the Ignatieff-lead Liberals in the polls 2 to 1? The NDP taking over Quebec? Harper up to his usual slimy tricks and making disparaging, fear-mongering remarks about the competition, but NEVER committing to any real promises that we can hold him accountable to? Oh wait, they ALL do that!).

(I see the irony of putting the badge on imported fruit, yes. It was esthetically pleasing, though).

I think this is the election where voting with your heart & mind for the party and/or candidate you feel best represents your needs is the best possible move.

For once, we can't for sure say that it will be a Conservative majority, and maybe we'll force a minority. Or that a vote for anyone BUT the Liberals is effectively a vote for the Conservatives.

Not this year!

Vote how you will, but please vote with your heart. Vote for the candidate and/or party that you actually WANT to win, in an ideal world. Don't vote for someone to keep someone else out (I think someone else has done a good enough job of that himself!).

Myself, I'm voting GREEN. I don't dislike Hedy Fry, but I really want to give Adrienne Carr a voice in Ottawa. I want the following:

• No supertankers travelling along our coast. (Read more from my friends at The Dogwood Initiative here)
• Actual committment and movement on the sensible/sustainable/sanity front in terms of environmental impact goals (i.e. the Kyoto accord, which Canada has thus far welched on!). Did you hear Harper's rousing speech on making Canada a "leader" amongst nations? I agree! So vote green (or heck, even NDP is probably a greener option)!
• Someone elected by Canada's citizens to remind the fat white guys in Ottawa (who are constantly wined and dined by Big Pharma, and 'Big Business' in general) that what we're chiefly concerned about are environmental issues (among other important things as well, of course).

Adapted from dogwoodinitiative.org/notankers - Please see their website for the full story!

Don't let the white-bred Right tell you that a vote for the Green Party (or the NDP's or the Liberals for that matter) is a vote for anarchy! C'mon, the country won't collapse if Layton's in charge, and having Green party members does not mean holding Woodstock in the House of Commons. How gullible do the Conservatives think Canadians are?

Grow some change! Let's have a Green Member of Parliament! Even just one!

I guess after so many years of letting our public health care system and education systems suffer (and giving lots and lots of tax breaks to their rich industry buddies instead!), they can probably safely assume that our brains collectively aren't running at 100%.  Maybe they've succeeded in adopting American-Republican style politics North of the 48th parallel. I hope not. (By the way, props to Obama for releasing a video of his 'birth' to silence Fox News! Ha! Love it!).

So fight back, buy into NOTHING, and vote for the candidates that you most want forming our government. I feel quite confident that if we all vote for who we truly want to vote for, Green or otherwise, we'll have a much better House of Commons, getting things done that we the citizens want done and need done. Not what Monsanto wants done, not what 'Pharma' wants done, and not what the Oil Companies want, but what the tax-paying, hard-working Canadians actually want done.

If you're in Saanich-Gulf Islands (and I know many of you who are!), let's get in Elizabeth May! Make history! Just one Green MP will make a difference, giving a fresh voice and a real perspective to our elected representatives! Do it!

Go and vote! :)