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Three Good Reasons To Vote and One Really Stupid One

By crooky | September 29, 2008

In British Columbia [Map, for those not familiar with Canadian geography], we are facing three important elections in the next eight months. There’s the Canadian Federal election coming up in a few weeks, there’s the US Presidential election coming up in November and then there’s the Provincial election coming up in May, 2009. There are a lot of important issues on the table right now and that’s going to influence peoples’ voting decisions.

You might find it odd that I’m talking about the US election but our economy in Canada is heavily influenced by our closest neighbour and anything that happens in the upcoming election is going to have huge ramifications for Canada. Here’s my take on important issues that might send you to the polls and one issue that I think you should forget about when you vote:

1. The Economy

I think everyone should think carefully about what our economy is doing before heading to the polls but probably not for the reasons that you think. I am not a “conservative” but I believe that the government’s responsibility is to stay out of the business of business. I mean this in two ways: the government shouldn’t put unnecessary barriers in the way of businesses but they also shouldn’t give massive handouts to businesses when things go sideways. On the other hand, government should be a watchdog of business and make sure that they don’t do things that are not in the best interest of the voting public.

The current financial meltdown in the US is a prime example. The government is at fault for not properly limiting the ability of the financial sector to over-extend itself but the last thing that the government should do is to validate this behaviour by lending them even more money to spunk up the wall.

Before you go to the polls - think hard about which government is going to look out for your interests as a private citizen. I can’t really make any suggestions but it pays to be informed. Looking at the policies of past governments from the same political party is usually a good place to start because more often than not, governments employ the same advisors, regardless of who is in charge.

2. The Environment

There is no arguing that the environment is at the forefront of all international relations. You need to know what the party you want to vote for has to say about the environment. Keeping in mind that no politician is going to approve anything that has a payoff much past their term in office, there is always a fine balance between policies that are good for the environment and policies that are good for the economy.

The environment is one area where governments can have a real impact. Despite arguments that private industry will do the right thing for the environment on its own, in my experience its an area where elected officials can make a real impact. Take the example of Delhi where in 1998 the Supreme Court mandated that every commercial vehicle in the city must run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to improve air quality in this city of nearly 14 million people. The result was a noticeable increase in air quality.

Yes, policies that make a big difference in terms of the environment have painful beginnings - if you’re old enough, think back to the switch we all had to make from leaded gasoline to unleaded gasoline. Remember when recycling programs were first introduced across Canada? How about when they banned smoking in public places? People went nuts about all of these things. Did the economy fall apart? Did bars go out of business? Did gas companies go out of business? No. Short-term pain, long-term gain.

3. Long-term Sustainable Communities

Sustainable communities are not a sexy election debate topic but they’re going to be key in the next decade. Baby boomers are retiring en masse, certain areas (like British Columbia and Alberta) are growing at a frightening pace and the same thing is happening in competing communities. This means that without some pro-active policies around transportation infrastructure, housing and vital services such as health care and public transportation - our quality of life is going to decline rapidly.

Before going to the polls, you need to look at what your party of choice is going to do about this problem and if they answer is “nothing”, you should think twice.

4. Gas Prices

This is the single stupidest thing to consider when going to the polls yet governments are being asked to seriously comment on “what they intend to do about rising fuel prices”. WAKE UP! Gas is a commodity that is controlled by international market forces. Any government that claims they can control it is either ignorant or lying.

You need to read up on international commodity prices and how they work before believing any government that they have a viable solution to keep prices low.

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Topics: Policy, social issues |

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