This month, Canadians are making a decision on the trajectory of our country for the next four years, or more. If they win, Harper’s Conservatives will likely retain their majority and continue to push through right-wing legislation. A Liberal win for Trudeau would result in a major governmental shift, even as a minority.
The campaign has been the longest in history, at 78 days. For a few reasons, though, it’s soured me on Canadian democracy.
First, the two major parties seem more polarized than ever. The Conservatives won’t even say Justin Trudeau’s full name, while the Liberals are already shooting down any possibility of a coalition. If parties are supposed to work together as a government to make important decisions for the greater good of the Canadian people, it isn’t evident in this election.
It seems as though we’ve gone backwards in time during this campaign. In its international heyday, sometime in the ‘90s, Canada was known for being at the forefront of science and humanitarian efforts. During this campaign, parties have debated whether Canada should allow entrance to any refugees at all, while the incumbent government has reportedly muzzled its own scientific researchers.
This election has also seen the powers of Elections Canada, a non-partisan agency, restricted by the Fair Elections Act. In the eyes of several international experts, with whom I agree, the act severely damaged the integrity of Canada’s democracy and electorate by making it harder to prove your identity in order to vote. Changes to voter eligibility are also projected to hurt students, seniors, and Aboriginal citizens.
The party platforms, too, make some disappointing strides away from Canadian democracy. Abroad, the current Harper government’s staunch pro-Israel stance is quickly souring our image in the rest of the region. At home, over 1,100 Aboriginal women have gone missing or been murdered. Yet the biggest issue for Stephen Harper is the niqab, purportedly a security threat to our great, multicultural nation.
As for Justin Trudeau, once you get past seeing him as the aloofly good-looking guy walking up an escalator, you’ll see that the Liberal Party of Canada behind him is well-qualified. On paper, the party’s campaign promises seem to have solutions for just about every issue. Forecasts of a balanced budget by 2020, however, are downright fiscally irresponsible. And dude, the weed angle makes you look incredibly desperate for the youth vote.
I love Thomas Mulcair, but I don’t love his promises for increased spending across the board while simultaneously balancing a budget by 2016. Huge losses in Quebec seem to have spelled an end for the Orange Wave’s pipe dream of gaining power, and now all the NDP seem to be doing is aggravating the vote split on the left, which could allow the Conservatives to cruise to victory again.
Elizabeth May is great. Whether flashing peace signs at debates or baying like a child for a seat at the adult table, she’s a breath of fresh air next to the other leaders. What’s unfortunate is that her party’s platform is actually quite interesting and never gets the honest consideration it deserves. Then again, making impossible promises like free tuition delegitimizes the whole thing. Unless you live on Vancouver Island, you may as well vote for the Rhinoceros Party.
I may be disillusioned with the Canadian electoral climate, but I’m still going to play my part and vote. We’re lucky enough in this country to have a functioning semblance of a democracy, and that’s something many fight for to this day.
