By Karen Cassian
On October 19th, I am voting Liberal in this Federal election. As the NDP vote starts to decline in the polls, in our Parry Sound/Muskoka riding, I am betting that Trisha Cowie, the Liberal candidate will have the best opportunity to beat Tony Clement, the present Conservative MP. Trisha is a young, female, aboriginal lawyer. I think that is great. I looked at Justin Trudeau and his family standing on the stage recently at a Brampton rally which was attended by 7000 people. It’s clear he represents a new generation: my adult children’s generation. He brings forth a new and hopeful message, starkly different from Harper’s message of divisiveness and fear-mongering. It is refreshing to see a young man with a positive vision for Canada.
There is a new 88 page Liberal platform document out which details proposed tax cuts for middle income earners, increased jobs for young people, the doubling of infrastructure spending over the next four years to help stimulate the economy and financial help for post- secondary students.
I would like to see Trudeau have the opportunity to start cleaning up the mess that Harper has made of our country. There is a new 88 page Liberal platform document out which details proposed tax cuts for middle income earners, increased jobs for young people, the doubling of infrastructure spending over the next four years to help stimulate the economy and financial help for post- secondary students. These are only a few of the key points in their platform.
Before Harper began his nine years as Prime Minister, Canada stood for something on the world stage. We were seen as peacekeepers and respected for our multicultural society, tolerance and championing human rights issues. At one time we would have been leading the way to expedite the process of bringing Syrian refuges to our country. Now Harper and gang use scare tactics to make us think that there are terrorists mingling with refugees, preventing the development of a clear and expedient refugee policy.
The new Trans Pacific Partnership deal was signed without dialogue with regular Canadians. What arrogance on Harper’s part. So far it threatens jobs in Canada in the dairy, manufacturing and auto industries and threatens our public health by potentially increasing the cost of medication. After the TPP deal was announced, Harper immediately followed with 4.3 billion dollars slated over 15 years to dairy farmers and $1 billion to the auto industry. The TPP for Canadians is not off to a good start. Meanwhile, in the US the trade deal has been debated extensively for some time. Trudeau is not against the trade deal. Like most of us, he is still getting up to speed on what it entails.
Under Harper’s rule, Canada is expected to impede talks about climate change at the UN Paris Accord this December. He has cut funding to scientists by up to $138 million dollars and has closed important research centres across Canada, effectively muzzling scientists and stifling their freedom of expression by not allowing them to address climate change without government approval. Harper has cut government funding for women’s advocacy by 43 per cent. He has also shut down 12 out of 16 Status of Women offices in Canada and refuses to hold an inquiry into lost and murdered Canadian aboriginal women.
I believe in strategic voting if it helps to rid our beloved country of this leader and party.
I am one of those “Anyone but Harper” citizens. I believe in strategic voting if it helps to rid our beloved country of this leader and party. I believe in coalitions. If Harper and the Conservatives win a minority government, I am counting on the Liberals and NDP to create a coalition this time round. Neither Trudeau nor Mulcair have ruled that out. Elizabeth May, head of the Green Party and a woman that I very much admire, has been heard to say that she would help to mediate a coalition between the Liberals and NDP if it came down to that decision.
Closer to home we have Tony Clement who is the Conservative candidate in Parry Sound-Muskoka. Tony is more than generous in giving out money in our riding. My girlfriend who lives out west arrives every year for a visit and invariably goes for a swim at the Summit Centre which was built during the G8. She usually ends up at the front desk telling them that she is a visitor from out of town and has come to see how her tax dollars are being spent. The rest of Canada is not as lucky as we are here in Muskoka. Does that seem fair?
This week in the polls the Liberals are leading. Let’s not get complacent at this time. The Conservatives have a strong base. There are many variables that could change the polling numbers in a heartbeat.
Exercise your right to vote on October 19th. Rally your friends to vote. Help to bring our country back to being the nation that at one time brought us all so much pride.
Karen Cassian is enjoying a Muskoka retirement having retired as an Air Canada Service Director after 34 years. She is an artist with interests in painting, photography and writing. She is active in the local arts and cultural community and sits on the board of directors for the Huntsville Festival of the Arts. She has a long-standing interest in politics and is a passionate Liberal.
Trudeau likes to promote the idea that he will do a better job of enriching the lives of the middle class. Here’s a piece from a recent New York Times article on Harper’s track record: “Canada was the envy of the western world in weathering the 2008 Great Recession. Canada has likely surpassed the US to have the world’s most affluent middle class. While the median income has dropped in the US, Canadian incomes have risen impressively, especially for those in the bottom 20%. The number of people below the Low Income Cut-off is at the lowest level ever. A recent OECD report shows Canada has done a particularly exemplary job in reducing child poverty since Harper took over, despite the Great Recession.” To me, these are some of the most important measures of a leader. This is why Harper deserves another term in office. Trudeau, on the other hand, openly admits that he plans to run huge deficits, undoing all the good fiscal management his predecessors did under Chretien when they ran surpluses and paid down our debt.
I understand what you are saying Ruby, however a very large part of the Conservative’s campaign has in fact alienated many of their normal senior followers. The $35 billion cut the party said they would make over the next 7-10 years to the health care system as well as their lack of attention and action on retirement benefits and pensions has done nothing but frighten his older followers away from him. Our population is getting older as the birth rate drops and our health technology increases, and harming services for older citizens and making them work longer to make up for it is the wrong way to go. There is also an enormous push in this election, more so than any election I can think of, for young people to vote. Celebrities, some politicians, and passionate young voters like myself have been sharing messages encouraging young people to vote across Canada. This is already having notable success, as 42 000 university students voted on campus on the very first day of advanced polls. I think Canada will see a huge jump in the percentage of young voters, as well as a decline in senior voters who vote Conservative.
On economic matters: the Conservative base, perhaps mostly older voters as Karen suggests, are quite interested in how the economy is managed. Prime Minister Harper brags about his economic management. He takes all the credit for weathering the 2008 – 2009 economic downturn well when Canada did well partly because of the measures taken, including banking regulations put in place, by Paul Martin in the previous Liberal government. Harper demonizes deficits while his government has enabled a series of deficits over more years than not, despite inheriting a surplus when he took office. Canada’s trade balance has been negative for 55 months of the Harper government. The August trade deficit was $2.54 billion despite Conservative bragging about signing almost 2 dozen trade agreements. The previous Liberal government had no trade deficit.
Regarding Tony Clements legacy: As President of the Treasury Board, Clement lost track of $3.1 billion of public safety and anti-terrorism money. It vanished with no paper trail and no accountability. The Attorney General and Parliamentary Budget Officer were incredulous. While criminal intent was not suggested, why has there never been an inquiry into where the money went? Imagine if this had happened in the private sector? How is this in any stretch of the imagination considered good management of the economy? Then of course there was the $50 million or so of taxpayer money that was siphoned away from other files including border security infrastructure for G8 ‘perks’ in Muskoka-Parry Sound.
Karen is basing her decision on a scientific and statistical error. There has been no public polling of local ridings by national pollsters, let alone in Parry Sound-Muskoka. National polling does show that NDP support has fallen in Quebec, not enough to change any seat counts, but enough to change the pooled national vote percentage across Canada. To apply those national percentages to any local riding is objectively wrong, suggesting a failure to understand basic science and math, or outright bias.
The problem, as you said, Karen, is that the Conservatives have a strong base among older voters who, historically, decide elections. Justin Trudeau, because of his young age, his cultural interests and his youth-oriented policies, has a connection with young people, but these same characteristics are alienating to many older voters. In order for the Liberals to win this election, we need to get young people to the polls. In the last federal election, the highest voter turnout at 75% was those 65 to 74 years of age, followed by 55 to 64 year-olds at 71%. The lowest voter turnout was those 18 to 24 years of age at only 39%, followed by 25 to 34 year-olds at only 45%.