Election Eve

So, Canadians will be going to the polls tomorrow, and they look poised to toss out Martin's Liberal government. The election has been an interesting one for me. This is the first time I've been living in another country that is going through an election cycle. It is also uncomfortable for me since I could very well be affected by whatever new policies will be coming down the political pipeline, but I have absolutely no say in what will happen. This experience has definitely made me appreciate the plight of immigrants in America and other nations, who pay taxes, earn their livelihoods, raise their families, and in some cases, die in a country in which they have no voice. Some countries, like America and Canada, have very liberal policies about becoming citizens, thereby gaining the right to vote. Other countries, such as Germany, do not allow (or at least did not allow 8 years ago) naturalized citizens the right to vote, regardless of how long you've been there.

It looks as if the Conservatives win, they will have a minority government, which means that they, as a party, garnered the most votes amongst all the parties, but that they failed to earn enough votes to form a coalition in the parliment to break 50%. This is basically the equivalent of different parties controlling the Executive and Legislative branches in the US government. Of course, Stephen Harper's platform worries me as he is espousing much of what Bush believes. He wants to get rid of same-sex marriage, reduce health and child care benefits, he wants to reduce taxes and he wants to send troops to Iraq. I think of all of his policies, this last one will be the most unpopular. Canadians really don't like it when one of their own is killed in Afghanistan, but Iraq is much more dangerous. Of course, the Canadian troops may not see a lot of action in Iraq, instead being kept safe for political reasons (so I have to ask how useful such a gesture really is).

Some Canadians believe that polls are not a good indicator of actual voting practices. They believe that people will tell the pollsters one thing, and actually do something else at the polls. Apparently this happens with some regularity up here, but even so the Conservatives are enjoying a good lead over the Liberals. The NDP is what confuses the issue, as the NDP has around 20% of the vote. Liberals have between 25-30%, and the Conservatives have 35%-40%. The rest of the votes go to Bloc Quebecquois and Green. The Liberals, NDP, and Greens tend to form coalitions, and between them they have around 55%. BQ goes back and forth, but they tend to side with the Conservatives on certain issues. However, they support Liberal policy in others. Their main platform is one of separation that they play up or down depending on the political environment.

Alberta, one of the plains provinces, is the most Conservative province. British Columbia is like California flipped upside down. The Vancouver area is heavily NDP, the north is Conservative. The Atlantic provinces lean Conservative, Ontario is Liberal, Quebec is either BQ or Liberal, though Montreal has a lot of Greens.

Anyway, I'll write tomorrow about the election results.

Keep on keepin' on.