Pardon me for a moment -- I'm about to get political.

So, today (having little to do at lunch) I decided to read the platforms of the various parties. Well, parties being the Conservatives and the Liberals, mostly because I was tired of trying to defend a party I knew nothing about. I wanted a better argument than "THEY STOLE FROM US". (which in MY mind says it all. But apparently it doesn't, for some bizarre, twisted reason.) Anyhow. What I learned was that the two platforms were remarkably similar. I won't mention many specifics, but I will mention a few. For example the conservatives wanting to give parliament, not the courts, the final decision on serious issues. Which is good, right? The people we elected arguing about the things we care about (as opposed to the appointed judges). Makes sense. Both parties promised to reduce tax (though the liberals were far more vague, oh, and the Health Accord of 2003? Yeah, I can see neither head nor tail of it on the liberal platform, not to mention reasons why they haven't met their deadlines...), and improve the lot of the world. Of course. IT's politics. They all promise you the moon, right?

Fact: Canada is one of the highest taxed nations in the G-7. 40% of the Canadian governments money currently comes from the taxation of people like you and I.

Both governments promised to improve health care over the next few years. Once again, obviously. Canadians don't WANT to be americans and have to PAY for everything. But. From 1995-1999 the Liberals took 25 BILLION dollars from Health Care. And Martin proposes to put one billion back in. Oh gee, thanks. In over 90% of cases, Canadians are forced to wait BEYOND what is clinically acceptable. Which would be alright (or at least understandable) if we didn't have the longest waiting list in the oecd despite spending the most per capita.

I suppose the fact that both parties are making a stand on the Child Porn issues (though the liberals are REALLY vague)really appeals to me--- the fact that finally, someone will do something about it. Because it's a serious issue. No matter which government gets in --they had better follow through with at least that.

IT's funny, because one of the platforms talks about how much Canadians have achieved over the past few years in the areas of the arts, sports, science or business. Now, to be truthful I don't know much about Science of business, but I DO know that the government gives VERY little funding to Canadian athletes OR artists. Sorry, guys, you can't take credit for the individual accomplishments of people. The liberals say they will make health care "publically funded [and] universally available". So why are all our hospitals shutting down? Could it BE lack of funding?

I suppose the thing that surprised me most, however, was that the liberals are "committing to the purchase of new equipment, including state-of-the-art armoured vehicles for the arm, search and rescue aircraft and helicopter replacement". They indend on "increasing the budget for national defence to 13.7 Billion dollars" (which is up 3 billion, btw), and they will "increase Canadian forces by 5000 personnel…. [Which] will enable our military to assume a bigger role in bringing peace, security and democracy to troubled nations." Hm. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The reason I'm so surprised at that is because one of the things liberal supporters have been blasting the conservatives for is that they want to increase military spending. Huh.

"Liberals do not believe Canada is broken and needs to be fixed." See, to me, I see problems, baby! The fact that our hospitals are closing, doctors and nurses leaving, tuition rates rising like floodwaters…I see that as a problem. Possibly because I come from the forgotten middle-class, though.

(In their list of achievements they ingeniously put "terminated the sponsorship program". Which is absolute BRILLIANCE. They also said that they launched a program to (get this) "eliminate waste and ensure that government spending delivers maximum value to taxpayers". Mmmhmmm. I can only think of two rather rude things to say to that, neither of which I will post.)

The way I see things (and I'm sorry if I'm picking on your party: I'll explain why in a second) is that the liberals have had ten years to make good on their promises. You can look at so many points on their platform and say 'yeah, we've heard THAT before'. And for ten years we've been waiting. Sure, both parties make the same promises (more or less). But the liberals have proven themselves time and time again untrustworthy where it counts. What is it we're scared of? Change? I think a lot of it is the stigma attatched to the word "conservative". Or some people who want to be considered liberal come hell or high water-- like they're scared that by being conservative they'll immediately convert and become bible-toting fundamentalist Christian bigots. But see, if you read the text it's all so close to being the same. So WHY go back?

Maybe it's just me. I've been raised that once you learn you can't trust someone you stay the hell away from them. And maybe I don't care enough what people think of me to bother to try and defend being the only university student who is NOT liberal. Who knows?

You know, I just got on this because I am SO TIRED of the disgusting campaign that the liberal government has put out. I can't go to or from work without hearing something against harper. The liberals haven't even bothered with a "vote for us, we're good people". Type of message. They're only saying "just don't vote for them -- they're bad people". They're spent: they're behaving apallingly, and I don't want a government who resorts to name calling and mud slinging to represent me. I'd like to think that I have more dignity than that.

[sighs]
I promised myself I wouldn't get riled up. But I did. And now I bet the only person who will comment is Kora. And maybe lisa. Because no one else is even going actually read the whole thing. ANYHOW. Guys, don't let me get into politics. I get too passionate.

(Kora: or absolutely CRAZY.)

Heh. Now THERE is a rant!