One thing I want to straighten out with everyone is why I am not a fan of Stephen Harper. People wonder why Harper gets so much flak and what basis this attack has in general. What most people do not realize and what I have come to understand as my major beef with the Prime Minister is how he utilizes fear and the uncertainty it creates in Canadians in order to side step major issues that frankly aren't being dealt with. So much so, that every time you see a new attack ad or a new speech from the Prime Minister, you are witnessing time wasted that could be used to discuss important topics that are currently affecting Canadians and impacting our economy.
So...I wanted to make mention of some of these important topics and give them some attention as their importance does not disappear as a result of Harper's constant fear mongering.
Poverty:
Time and again we have heard and will once again hear Stephen Harper argue that a vote for him is a vote for economic stability and prosperity. Yet, we as a collective in Canada have seen little to nothing done in order to combat the major issue of poverty affecting people living in this country aside from small initiatives that continue to waste money discussing options that seem like they might work.
No real platform has been established by any party really that aims to actually defeat poverty. Justin Trudeau makes mention of growing the middle class and protecting them, yet I doubt we will see exactly how he plans to do this aside from cutting taxes and improving services made available to working Canadians.
What we definitely will not see in the coming months is any talk about growing our middle class by...you know shrinking our low income class and working poor in Canada. This would require all three parties to commit to the promotion of a living wage and employment that actually allows people to raise a family and have enough money to buy things...in other words stimulate the economy.
No, most likely we will witness talk about how the NDP will bankrupt the country with its social programs and how Justin will ruin the economy with his inexperience since this type of work requires experience and not an entry level bum or socialists, which is sad.
Meanwhile, many forget that Harper was once an entry level Prime Minister who had no problem taking a surplus economy and running it straight into the ground by making the very economic bets that led to the recession of 2008. No one saw the recession coming he says, but everyone knows you don't put all your eggs in one oil barrel.
Stephen Harper will for sure run on the premise that his government has created a slew of jobs, when in reality these jobs have been nothing more than the replacement of good work with low paying service positions.
Green Technology:
While you will hear more about carbon taxation in the coming months and a lot of buzz attacking it from the Conservatives, you will most likely not hear anything about actual efforts to combat the destruction of our environment.
No, most of this chatter will continue to rely on the broken system we are currently living in, where we strictly talk about oil as if it is the chosen child and do everything we can to avoid making mention of improving the technology of renewable energy sources and you know tying the economy into it as well.
Unfortunately, the economy and the environment will remain two separate issues, when in reality many people understand that they are nothing close to that.
While we should be hearing our parties discussing how to create a good paying "Made in Canada" solution to the problem, we will instead hear about the horrible consequences of carbon taxation. Which really is sad, because the world over is currently investigating ways to make solar panel technology and turbine technology much more efficient and cost effective and instead of supporting some excellent home grown initiatives here, our government has instead cut funding to many of these research projects. So, we for sure will not be hearing about the possibility of socializing climate change in an effort to really push the technology and ideas needed to affect real change.
Mental Illness:
Canada still lacks a proper mental health initiative that spans system wide. I could spend a multitude of days discussing the importance of said initiative and type until my laptop is dust, but what it comes down to is the fact that there are Canadians suffering and in need of proper help and because they lack this assistance and the proper research behind it, our country is entering a stage where our jails and prisons are becoming increasingly utilized as a next resort. Crime rates are decreasing, but those suffering from mental illness are still doing so without the necessary assistance.
And still...noone will mention this during a debate or even have the balls to run on a platform that does anything to combat it.
The first party to mention all three of these items should win the election by default?
What do you think?
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